


Perfect Shot of Espresso

by wildheartsneverdie



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, First Dates, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Idiots in Love, M/M, ace Lio, lots of dates actually, mad burnish as found family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:53:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 72,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21643978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildheartsneverdie/pseuds/wildheartsneverdie
Summary: Working in a coffee shop can be tough, but Galo Thymos is here to help!  Unfortunately, he’s too brash, too stupid and Lio Fotia doesn’t like him at all.(a coffee shop AU where they both work at the coffee shop)
Relationships: Gueira/Meis (Promare), Lio Fotia & Gueira & Meis, Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos
Comments: 147
Kudos: 295





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lio Fotia meets his new co-worker Galo Thymos

Lio had jammed the sesame bagel (with avocado spread) into his face while he hastily pulled his hair back into a food safety approved half-ponytail when he noticed the unfamiliar face staring at him in the break room. This newcomer was tall, wore his dark hair spiked up on top, and might have been good looking if not for the slack-jawed expression with which he was watching Lio. Did he have something on his shirt? Was it the bagel? Technically, he wasn’t on the clock so he wasn’t supposed to just help himself to the store food, but if this guy saw the state of Lio’s bank account, he’d have a little pity. This guy wasn’t going to narc on him, was he?

Lio tied off his ponytail and swallowed a bite of bagel, all without breaking eye contact. “What?” he demanded.

“I-uh..” The other man’s voice trailed off.

With a swing of the break room door, the shift leader Aina entered. “Oh good. I see you two have met. Lio, this is Galo. He’s coming in from another store to help out for a bit. Galo, Lio.”

Galo stood up from the table, shut the textbook he’d been reading and held his hand out to Lio. He flashed the shorter man a bright smile. “Hi. I’m Galo. Galo Thymos.”

Lio brushed bagel crumbs off his hand. Galo’s hand engulfed his own. “Lio.”

“We’re going to be friends, I’m sure of it!” Galo proclaimed loudly, too loudly.

Aina glared and smacked Lio in the shoulder. “I left you alone with him for 30 seconds. What did you say?”

“This is workplace harassment.” Lio rubbed his shoulder. “I didn’t say anything.”

“Whatever Lio said, don’t listen to him.” Aina turned to Galo. “He has a mouth, but he’s good with the espresso machine. That’s why we keep him around.”

“He didn’t say anything. Don’t worry, Aina.” Galo turned his smile to Aina and Lio saw the look in her eyes. Ugh, straight people.

“I’ll introduce you to everyone else.” Aina motioned Galo should follow and the two of them left the break room.

Now alone in the room filled with signs advising hand washing or warning of work place hazards, Lio hastily devoured the other half of his bagel. Out of curiosity, he picked up the textbook Galo had been reading. Some kind of anatomy book and, flipping through the pages, a detailed one at that. Galo had looked more like a jock than a doctor, but the idea of Galo running around in a white coat with a clipboard while trying to look like he knew what he was doing was intensely funny. And hot, fuck.

Once he’d finished his breakfast, or lunch since it was technically afternoon, Lio draped his apron over his shoulders and tied it around his waist. He gave himself a quick once over in the mirror before going out front to begin his shift.

—————————

Jazzy renditions of holiday music blared over the speaker system. The store had been decorated in rich red and golds, blinking lights strung along the ceiling. All the shelves in the store were piled high with holiday themed mugs, coffee making accoutrement or other stocking stuffers. Coffee aromas mingled with the smell of gingerbread and vanilla.

Customers, or guests as corporate insisted on calling them, came in at a rapid pace, their arms loaded up with bags of holiday shopping and their cheeks pink with the cold. No matter how cranky the customer looked when they stepped up to the counter, Galo’s bright smile disarmed them and no one seemed able to refuse returning that smile. Lio couldn’t help sneaking a few glances at his new coworker nor could he help looking at the rapidly filling tip jar. Maybe he’d underestimated Galo.

Lio made an endless stream of holiday drinks. He couldn’t tell the names of the any of the regulars at the coffee shop, but he knew all of their drinks. 

“Grande vanilla soy latte for Thyma.” Lio called out as he placed the drink up on the bar.

A mousy looking, small girl took the drink and scurried away. 

“Lio!” an impish voice called out behind him in a brief pause between customers.

“Lucia, my favorite gremlin.” Lio crossed his arms over his chest as he faced his coworker. She’d twisted blinking Christmas lights up into her buns today. Out of all the store employees, she was one of the few that could rival him in shortness.

“Heh heh.” Lucia chuckled for dramatic effect. “Aina and I have decided that since you decidedly lack in holiday spirit—”

“What?” Lio asked, deadpan.

“—that you should wear this holiday spirit hat!” Lucia held up a long red and green striped stocking cap with white fur trim and a pompom at the end. 

Lio immediately covered the top of his head with his hands. “No way! You’ll mess it up.”

“Think of the tips, Lio. The tips!” Lucia held the hat out to him.

Letting out a long sigh, Lio took the hat from her and arranged it on his head. “Fine.”

“Ha! You owe me a dollar, Aina! I told you he’d wear it!” Lucia pointed across the store in Aina’s direction.

She rolled her eyes, but pulled a dollar out of her pocket and held it out to Lucia.

“I hate you two so much.” Lio muttered so they could hear.

Lucia snorted. “Just think how boring the store would be without us.”

She had a point, but Lio wasn’t about to concede defeat. “Next time, I want my cut.”

“Remi!” Galo’s loud voice cut through the noise of the store. He had escaped wearing a hat, but instead had on a red and white striped scarf over his uniform. “Hey! What are you doing here?”

“Getting coffee.” The man in glasses answered evenly. Lio knew him as tall americano. “I didn’t know you worked at this location.”

“Just filling in!” Galo chimed in cheerily. “Through the holidays and then back at my old store probably. Hey, guys, this is my classmate, Remi!”

“Hi, Remi.” Aina waved, looking amused by Galo’s antics. “Looking forward to holiday break?”

“Have to make it to the break first. I think Ignis is trying to kill us with homework, the bastard. I’ll have a tall americano.” Remi rifled through his wallet to pull out the correct method of payment.

Lio tuned out the rest of the conversation and set to work making the drink. He was not jealous that even apparent idiots like Galo could afford college and that Galo got to casually talk about quizzes and holiday breaks with his classmate. Stupid rich kids.

He set the americano up on the bar and Remi took it with a nod.

“Hold on, watch the till.” Galo dashed away from the register, placing a hand on Lio’s shoulder as he scooted behind him. “Rem, we on for that study group tomorrow?”

Remi took a moment to fix his glasses and readjust his scarf. “You’re bringing dinner, right?”

“Of course!”

“Then the study group is on. I’ll see you tomorrow, Galo.” Remi exited the store into the chilly December day.

Lio must have been glaring, because Galo looked startled when he turned around. “You okay, Lio?”

“Fine.” Lio replied, grabbing a towel to wipe the counter down with a little more force than absolutely necessary.

—————————

The rest of the evening passed in a blur of customers. Sunset came early, Christmas lights on the street adding a cheery glow to the night. Lio counted down until the store closed and he joined the others in closing out the store as quickly as possible. Holiday hours hadn’t begun quite yet, but it was still dark by the time Lio left the shop.

Aina locked the store on her way out. “See you tomorrow, Lio.”

“See you.” Lio tucked his hands into his pocket to keep them warm. His jacket wasn’t quite enough to keep the chill out.

Galo stopped next to him. He wore a heavy woolen peacoat with a red hoodie underneath. “What’s up?”

“What do you mean?” Lio asked, eyeing the other man suspiciously.

“You uh… not going home or something?” Galo asked.

“I’m waiting for my ride.” Lio snapped irritably.

“Oh.” Galo waited for a beat before asking, “Wait, are you not old enough to drive?”

“Are you stupid? I don’t have a car!” Lio exclaimed. 

Galo breathed onto his hands to warm them. “It doesn’t seem right to make you wait out here by yourself. You could get kidnapped or something.”

“No one is going to kidnap me. It’s fine. You really, really don’t need to bother yourself with it.” Lio hoped that Galo would take the hint.

“It’s not a bother.” Galo smiled warmly.

Lio pulled his knitted hat a little further down on his head to give himself something to do that wasn’t try to make small talk with Galo. “Ugh,” he muttered under his breath.

“I think we might have gotten off on the wrong foot this morning.” Galo said after a length of quiet. “It’s just… this morning, when you walked in, you looked so cool and I wanted to say something cool, but my brain was still on anatomy. All I could think was ‘wow, nice clavicle!’ but that would have been pretty weird to say. So then I just kept staring and, I guess, maybe that wasn’t the best thing to do either.”

Lio cursed himself internally as he felt a flush creep into his cheeks. “Nice clavicle?”

“You know—” Galo pointed patted himself over the area in question “—your collar bone?”

“I know what a clavicle is.” Lio snorted. “But you’re right, that’s weird. Are you some kind of Victorian maiden getting all excited about clavicles?”

Galo laughed and Lio felt a little pleased with himself.

“Clavicles get tips, so…” Lio shrugged.

“Ooh, risque.” Galo commented with a laugh. “Hey. Can we start off on a fresh foot tomorrow?” he asked, his expression earnest.

Lio sighed. He wanted to dislike Galo, but he was making it very difficult. “Yeah. Okay.” 

Galo smiled so brightly it almost hurt to look at. Instead, Lio stared upward at the moon as it peeked through a crack in the clouds. A soft silvery glow lined the clouds, but it was too overcast to see the stars. Still smiling, Galo followed his gaze.

“The moon, huh?” Galo asked as if he couldn’t stand not talking. “Are you for or against the moon?”

“People have opinions on the moon?” Lio asked.

Galo shrugged. “It’s a thing. Everyone has thoughts on the moon.”

“Oh, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon, that monthly changes in her circled orb, lest that thy love prove likewise variable.” Lio quoted from memory.

Galo’s jaw dropped. “Is that poetry?”

“It’s Shakespeare.” Lio suddenly wanted to disappear into his coat collar. “Romeo and Juliet.”

“Wow.” Galo uttered in absolute awe. “That’s amazing.”

“It’s not. Everyone knows that.” Lio turned his face away from Galo to hide that he was blushing. In truth, he’d been voted to understudy Juliet in his middle school’s production of an abridged version of Romeo and Juliet. He’d never actually had to go one stage in that dress and perform, thank whatever powers that be.

“Want me to fight the moon for you?” Galo offered.

“What? Why?”

“You seem like a moon hater. I’ll fight the moon for you.” Galo braced himself, taking a stance like he was about to get into a fight.

“Yeah, sure. The moon. What is it doing up there, acting all high and mighty like it knows better than us?” Lio had to force himself to keep a straight face. “Fuck it up, Galo.”

“Get down here, coward moon! You think you’re so much better than us! I’ll fuckin’ fight you!” Galo forcefully made a few punches into the air.

“You idiot!” Lio laughed, grabbing Galo’s arm and pulling it down from punch position. “Don’t shout.”

Galo straightened his stance, beaming at Lio. “I finally made you laugh.”

“You’re an idiot, you know that?” Lio grinned in spite of himself. 

“Yup. World’s number one idiot. I have a coffee cup that says that and everything.” Galo agreed happily.

A car horn honked, interrupting their conversation. Lio glanced that direction to see a familiar red head poking his head out of the passenger side window.

“My ride’s here.” Lio took a few steps toward the battered looking car before turning back to Galo. “Thanks for, uh, hanging out.”

“Any time.” Galo waved before turning to make his way to his own vehicle.

Lio let himself into the back seat, relieved that the car interior was warm. There wasn’t much else he could say complimentary about this old beast of a vehicle, but at lest the heater was still working.

“Who was that?” Gueira asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Just some idiot I work with.” Lio rubbed his hands to work some warmth back into them.

“Huh.” Meis put the car into gear. Gueira and Meis exchanged glances.

“What are you getting at?” Lio asked, not liking the insinuation in Meis’ tone of voice.

Meis glanced over his shoulder at Lio. “You don’t usually smile like that at a lot of people.”

Lio jammed his boot into the back of the driver’s seat. “Please just shut up and drive.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't written fanfic in a really long time, but Promare set in a fire in my soul! (Or something...) I'm also a sucker for all the beautiful Promare AUs out there so I decided to try my hand at writing my own. There's some angst planned for future chapters, but everything will end happily. Promise!
> 
> Edit: My ao3 mentor helped me tag this better and I rewrote the summary to be worded in a less boring manner. I completely forgot to tag Galo and Lio as characters in this!! I’m new.
> 
> I think it’s worth mentioning I’ve never working in a coffee shop, but I did work in food service for a really, really long time. Sorry if I mess up any of the terminology!
> 
> Also guys who hate the moon is a real thing, google it because its wacky. In this instance, I don’t think Lio is an actual moon-hater.
> 
> So many questions yet to be answered. Will we find out more about Lio’s middle school production of Romeo and Juliet? Will Galo fight the moon? Find out next time.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Galo shows Lio a cat video.

A slate gray sky hung overhead as Lio went out for his morning jog. Overnight, the temperature had dropped and a bitter chill crept in under Lio’s jacket. As long as he kept moving, it wasn’t so bad but Lio couldn’t seem to shake the cold from his toes and his fingers. His breath came out in white puffs as he kept up his pace.

When he reached a certain block, Lio paused, peering into the gap between buildings. He clicked his tongue a few times, but didn’t see any signs of movement. 

“Smoky?” Lio called out, taking the bag of cat treats out of his pocket. He shook the bag, but still nothing. Lio frowned. He hadn’t seen the old cat in a while and was starting to worry about him. “I hope you found somewhere warm for the winter…”

Pocketing the cat treats, Lio blew on his fingers to warm them before taking off at a jog again.

—————————

“Is it snowing yet?” Gueira asked as soon as Lio stepped in through the front door of their apartment.

“No.” Lio kicked his sneakers off at the door.

“Oh, man…” Gueira sighed and glanced out the window as if it might have started snowing in the past 30 seconds.

Meis crossed his arms over his chest. “We finally have a quiet morning together, but he’s too busy staring out the window to pay attention.” 

Lio couldn’t help noticing that Meis kept glancing toward the window as well. Both of them came from warmer areas, where snow in the winter was a rarity, but Lio had grown up with cold, windy winters and the appeal lacked for him. It was going to cost a fortune to keep their apartment heated and he didn’t own a winter coat.

“I’m going for a shower.” Lio announced after he’d finished up stretching, but his roommates’ attention was fixed on the window. He shook his head and left them to wish for snow.

After he’d showered, Lio changed into clothes for work — a pair of tight black jeans and the lightweight black sweater that Lio had dubbed the clavicle sweater. Maybe Galo would notice. Regardless, he looked good and, if Galo didn’t look twice, then he was an idiot. Not that he specifically wanted Galo to notice him.

When he emerged from the bathroom again, Meis and Gueira were both at the window, watching the gray skies outside. Meis had an arm draped over Gueira’s shoulder while Gueira had his arm around Meis’ waist. As long as he’d known the two, they’d been together. They had taken him in when he didn’t have anywhere else to go and, if they ever minded that he’d crashed their horny teenage couple life, they’d never given him any indication of it. Once, Meis had admitted that Lio transformed them from a pair of lovers into an actual family. 

Lio’s own family had been such a disappointment that he clung to those words like a drowning man to a raft.

“I have to leave for work soon, do you want lunch?” Lio asked, heading for the cramped kitchen. He opened up the refrigerator and peered inside. There was still some leftover veggie pizza in the fridge, he could probably make do with that.

“Boss, you can’t live off pizza.” Gueira scolded as he came into the kitchen. He took Lio by the shoulders, steering him away from the fridge.

“I don’t live off pizza. I live off pizza and bagels I steal from work.”

“Sit. I’ll make lunch.” Gueira pointed toward the table.

“You?” Lio asked skeptically.

Gueira frowned. “I know how to cook! Go, sit!”

Lio put his hands up, admitting defeat, before retreating to the dining room table. Meis joined Lio at the table, turning a chair so he could sit backwards in it and still face the table. Like most things in the house, the table was scuffed and dated. Lio wasn’t one hundred percent certain that Gueira hadn’t pulled it out of a dumpster somewhere.

“I’ll give you a ride to work today.” Meis offered, but his eyes were on Gueira in the kitchen.

“It’s your day off, I’ll just take my bike.”

Meis turned his whole focus on Lio. “I get worried about you on your bike after dark, you know. It’s not that far.”

“Fine…” Lio relented. When Meis acted responsible, it was hard to turn him down. “Holiday hours start today.”

“Hm. Do you think that guy is going to keep waiting with you after the store closes now that the hours are longer?” Meis grinned slightly as he asked.

Of course, he had to bring up that Galo had taken to keeping him company after the store closed. Lio picked at a crack on the table. “Don’t ask me why he does anything. He’s an idiot.”

“A seemingly devoted idiot.”

“What was his name again?” Gueira asked from the kitchen.

“Galo Thymos!” Lio snapped, feeling himself turn red.

“Ah, the lover doth whisper his beloved’s name so enchantingly.” Meis pretended to swoon.

Lio crumpled up a napkin and threw it Meis’ head. It bounced off harmlessly, but that didn’t stop Meis and Gueira from laughing.

—————————

Lio stormed into the break room, kicking the swinging door open. Gueira and Meis spent the entire drive from the apartment to the store teasing him about Galo, especially since Lio seemed to be unable to say his name without blushing. The more they teased him about it, the worse the blushing became. Why were the two of them so concerned with his love life (or lack of) anyway? Was it because they hadn’t been able to keep their tongues out of each other’s faces since they were twelve or thirteen or something? Lio wasn’t so far from being twice that and still hadn’t had a long term boyfriend. And there was nothing wrong with that!

He was getting rid of both of them and replacing them with a cat.

“Lio, hey!” Galo’s bright voice cut through the fuming. “Whoa— Roommate troubles?”

“Something like that.” Lio muttered as he threw his jacket into one of the empty lockers.

“Cheer up. I come bearing cat videos.”

“Oh yeah?” Lio pulled his knit hat off and threw it into the locker as well. He finger-brushed his hair before turning to Galo. 

And froze in place. Galo was wearing glasses. They were simple, square frame glasses. But. They were glasses. Galo looked amazingly attractive in them.

“Glasses.” Lio said, somehow managing not to point.

Galo laughed sheepishly. “Oh yeah. I stayed up too late last night and I think I gave myself eye strain. Minecraft, you know?”

Lio took a deep breath, composed his thoughts. “I’ve never played minecraft.”

Galo motioned Lio over and Lio went to stand next to him at the table. “Maybe you can come over sometime and we can play together.” 

Lio shrugged. “After the holiday rush.”

“Yeah…” Galo’s smile took on a sad edge for a moment before he recovered. He picked his phone up from the table and unlocked it. It was cute and slightly childish that his phone wallpaper was a firetruck. “Hold on, let me find that video.”

Lio waited. When Galo had asked if they could start fresh, Lio hadn’t realize that meant he’d intended to bring in daily cat videos. 

“Here.” Galo held his phone up so that Lio could see an extremely fluffy cat with round cheeks walking on a leash down a sidewalk.

“He’s so cute! His cheeks are so big!” Lio leaned closer. His voice got higher whenever he saw cute things.

“Okay, you two.” Aina shoved the door open into the break room. Lio immediately jumped away from Galo. “Head office has decided we’re wearing ugly sweaters for the rest of the holiday season.”

“That sounds great!” Galo brightened up. “How ugly are they?”

“Judge for yourself.” She tossed a plastic wrapped sweater at Galo and another at Lio. A red and white sweater already adorned her torso, but most of the design was obscured by her apron.

Galo ripped into his package and held up a red sweater with a white pattern of coffee cups and candy canes. He looked thrilled by the sweater. “It’s super ugly!”

Lio took his sweater into the bathroom and swapped shirts. It was fashionably oversized, he guessed. He folded up his own sweater with pang of regret. Galo hadn’t really said anything. He sighed and left the bathroom with his sweater over one arm.

“Yup, it’s pretty ugly.” Aina laughed, laying her hand on Galo’s forearm. He grinned down at Aina in her matching sweater that clung to her in all the right places. They looked like a perfect couple. “Are you coming over this weekend?”

“Yeah! I wouldn’t miss it!” Galo agreed eagerly.

“Good. I’m making chicken enchiladas.”

“I love chicken enchiladas!”

Aina laughed again. “You’ll eat practically anything.”

Galo noticed Lio had returned to the break room and twisted his body from side to side to show off his new attire. His sweater was stretched to capacity trying to fit over his chest and shoulders. He still had his glasses on and the combo was almost too much for his heart. “What do you think, Lio? Are we ugly sweater enough?”

“Red isn’t really my color.” He added his sweater to his belongings in the locker and started tying his hair back for his shift.

“I have to go back out front.” Aina patted Galo’s arm before heading for the door. Galo watched her leave.

Galo picked up his textbook and deposited it into a locker near Lio’s. “It’s kind of a bummer you can’t wear your clavicle sweater for the tips. But you look cute in this sweater too.” He flashed one of his brightest smiles before following Aina to the front of the store.

Lio felt his face turn bright red. He wanted to climb into his locker and die of embarrassment. How could that idiot just say things like that?

—————————

The day passed in a blur of customers. Lio kept busy at the espresso machine pulling drink after drink. Peppermint mocha, hot chocolate, gingerbread latte, on and on it went. Their normal closing hours came. Lio’s feet ached and the holiday music had long since started to grate on him. And then, their last customer left and Aina locked the doors.

“We did it. We survived!” Lucia pumped her fist into the air. “Does anyone want to try this toasted marshmallow and praline latte? It’s a flavor I just invented.”

Everyone who had worked at the store for any length of time knew better than to try one of Lucia’s drink creations. Galo excitedly raised his hand into the air. “Me! I’ll do it!”

Lucia handed the drink over to Galo, grinning expectantly as Galo took a sip.

“Hm…” Galo mused. He took a second sip and smacked his lips together a few times. “There’s something in here that’s definitely not marshmallow and praline. But it kind of reminds me of a s’mores though.”

“You’re a genius, Galo. It needs a graham cracker crumble.” Lucia ripped the drink away from him. “Back to the drawing board.”

“No one’s ever called me a genius before.” Galo scratched at the short hair at the side of his head.

“Okay, that’s enough goofing around.” Aina clapped her hands together to get everyone’s attention. “Let’s get this store closed so we can go home.”

In a well practiced dance, the coffee shop employees quickly and efficiently closed out the store. Aina was last out, making sure everything was locked up behind her. “See you tomorrow, Lio.”

“See you.” Lio nodded as he took up his usual post on the sidewalk while waiting for his ride to arrive. His heart was beating quickly and he felt nervous. Would Galo wait with him still, despite the store’s new later closing hours? He shoved his hands into his pockets to hide how nervous he felt.

“Hey, look. Snow.” Galo pointed up to fine snowflakes as they drifted through the light from the street lamps. “Did you know if you catch a snowflake on your tongue, you get a wish?”

“I did not know that. I don’t think we had that urban legend back home.” Lio looked up at the tiny flakes. He stuck his tongue out despite feeling stupid.

“I’ll try too.” Galo tilted his head back and stuck his tongue out.

“Got one.” Lio quickly made his wish. Wiggling his toes and feeling that this pair was about to give out, he wished for new boots.

“What’d you wish for?” Galo asked, still keeping his head tilted back.

“A million dollars.”

“Boring. I’m gonna wish to learn to play guitar.”

“You don’t have to wish to do that. You can just watch youtube videos.” Lio rubbed his hands together.

“I keep trying, but it’s too hard. The only way it’s going to happen is through a miracle.” Galo turned to regard Lio. “Are you shivering?”

“No.” Lio lied.

Galo narrowed his eyes. “Lio, let me see your hands!”

“What for?” Lio asked as he held out his hands.

Galo took them in his own, turning the palm side up. “Yes, this will do.”

“What will do?!”

Reaching into his coat pocket, Galo withdrew a pair of bright orange knit gloves and slapped them into Lio’s hands. “Gloves for you!”

“What? You can’t just- I can’t just take gloves from you!” Lio protested, shoving the gloves back in Galo’s direction. 

“I got them for Christmas last year and they’re too small. If you don’t wear them, they’re just going to waste in my closet.” Galo used his larger hands to close Lio’s fingers around the gloves.

“I can’t-”

“Just take them, okay?” Galo asked, leaning down so he could look into Lio’s face through his glasses. Lio heaved a sigh of annoyance and looked away. “I’ve never seen you with a pair of gloves and you’re always trying to warm your hands up. You could get sick if you don’t take care of yourself.”

“Orange isn’t my color.” Lio complained as he pulled the gloves on. 

“I’ll ask my cousin to get black gloves for me this year.” Galo rocked back on his heels, smiling again.

“Happy now?” Lio held up his now gloved hands.

“You are definitely a cat person.” Galo snickered.

“What does that mean?” Lio muttered. Although his fingers were still freezing, his hands were beginning to warm up.

Galo shrugged. “Cat people are cat people. I always wanted a dog myself, but my gran—” he stopped suddenly, kicking at the pavement with his foot.

“Thank you.” Lio said quietly, suddenly feeling shy. Not only did his hands feel warm, but he also felt a warmth in his chest. Fuck.

“Lio…”

But whatever Galo wanted to say was cut short by Meis’ car horn.

“Your rides here.” Galo looked strangely melancholy as he spoke. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Galo.”

“Yeah! I’ll see you tomorrow, Lio!” It took Galo just a half moment too long to smile for it to be convincing.

Lio lingered for a moment, hesitant to leave when Galo seemed sad about something, but Meis and Gueira were going to give him hell if he stayed too long. Gueira stuck his head out the window, his smile turning wicked as Lio approached the car. 

“Lio, it’s snowing!” Gueira reported excitedly as Lio slid into the backseat. Thankfully, he left the topic of Galo alone.

“I see that.” Lio commented. “Did you know that if you catch a snowflake on your tongue, you get a wish?”

“What?” Gueira immediately stuck his head back out the window despite the fact that the car was now in motion. 

Without looking, Meis grabbed the Gueira’s jacket and dragged him back inside the car. “Please don’t decapitate yourself, babe.”

—————————

By the next morning, whatever snow remained on the ground had turned into a slushy, icy mess, but neither sleet nor snow could keep Lio from his morning jog. Some days it felt good to just run and run and run until legs and lungs ached. He didn’t have to think about anything as long as he kept running. He didn’t have to think about rent or orange gloves or holes in his sneakers or Galo Thymos. Just keep moving forward.

He stopped at the usual block, panting and out of breath. When he could breath again, Lio shook the bag of cat treats. “Smoky?”

A plaintive meow came from between the gap in the buildings and an old gray cat shot out to rub against Lio’s legs.

“Hey, old guy…” Lio crouched down to stroke him. “Hey, Smoky. Where have you been?”

The cat meowed again, this time more of a demand. Lio dumped out a generous handful cat treats and held them out to Smoky. Without hesitation, the cat crunched on the food while purring. When the food was gone, Lio went back to petting him with one hand.

“Did you find some place warm to hide out, old guy? Huh? Did you miss me?” Lio asked while rubbing his cheeks and scratching between his ears. “I wish I could take you home with me…”

Eventually, Smoky had enough petting and he sauntered away from Lio. Lio turned off his phone’s camera. Now he had a cat video to show Galo. Not that he liked him or anything, this was just repaying him for the gloves. 

That was all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like to imagine that Lio just busts into the break room before his shift every day and announces “Move, I’m gay.” Galo saw that and thought “I’m going to make friends with him” and here we are.
> 
> Please join me on this journey where we envision Galo with glasses.
> 
> And don’t worry, this isn’t a story about Lio making Galo gay. His gaydar is just extremely broken. The boys will figure it out.
> 
> Next time: Will Lio go over to Galo’s place to play minecraft? Are they gamers?


	3. Christmas Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang goes Christmas shopping. Not a lot of actual shopping gets done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY REDUX!! I hope everyone is enjoying getting to see our boys on the big screen once more or for the first time.
> 
> Please note that I bumped the rating up to T for this one. Welcome to that angst I’ve been promising.
> 
> cw: Depiction of police violence, Christmas

“The forecast calls for snow. Flurries beginning as early as 6 pm.” Heris looked up from the weather warning on her phone as she spoke, making sure not to lose Aina in the crowd of the downtown shopping district. The crowds and lights of Christmas only ever made her feel left out of other people’s cheer.

“I know, I know…” Aina acknowledged Heris’ reminder on the subject. “But this is the last day I’m not working before Christmas. Besides, I told Galo we’d meet him today.”

Heris pushed her glasses up her nose. Oh yes, Galo.

As if the devil himself had been summoned, Galo waved at them over the top of the crowd. He was easy enough to spot, his spiked up hair making taller than most. “Aina! Heris! Over here!”

Together, Aina and Heris threaded their way to the crowd to where Galo and his friend with glasses stood. They’d met before, but Heris couldn’t remember his name.

“A caroling competition is starting here in 10 minutes!” Galo said excitedly as soon as they were in earshot.

“That could be fun, Galo, but—” Aina hesitated.

“Stay right here, I’ll get some cider for all of us!” Before Aina could finish her thought, Galo dashed off.

Aina sighed. “We only have so much time. He’s like a puppy and everything is a ball to chase.”

“What a succinct description of Galo.” Glasses agreed with a blank expression. “Who wants to be on Galo round up duty?”

“I’ll do it.” Heris volunteered before Aina could.

It wasn’t that she disliked Galo, he was charming in his own way. And she needed to let Aina make her own decisions. But it wasn’t as if she had to help the blossoming romance between the two of them by allowing alone time together. 

For all his charm, Galo was an idiot and he wasn’t good enough for Aina. He’d never been good enough for Aina, not even when they were all children together.

To prove her point, she caught up with Galo at the pop up cider and donut shop where he was stumped trying to figure out how to carry four cups with two hands.

“Here, let me help.” Heris took two of the cups into her own hands.

“Wow! Good thing you showed up when you did, Heris.”

He always ran off without thinking things through. 

“Lio!!” Heris watched Galo’s face light up as he called out a new name. “You’re here too!”

A small man perked up when he heard his name. He made his way in their direction with Lucia following along behind. This newcomer had lip gloss and eyeliner on. Heris understood some human males used this as part of their mating ritual. His clothes were also all black except for bright orange gloves. Perhaps this was also part of human male mating rituals.

“Hey, Galo.” He tucked some of his hair behind his ear, a ghost of a smile on his lips.

Lucia waggled her eyebrows at Heris and nodded at the two men. She didn’t quite understand her meaning.

“Heris, this is Lucia and Lio. They both work at the same store with me and Aina!” Galo introduced the two, but he only had eyes for Lio. “I’ll get cider for you too!”

“You don’t—” Lio protested, but it was already too late. Galo had gone back to the vendor.

“Galo’s in a good mood, isn’t he?” Lucia snickered.

“He’s so—” the pretty boy frowned. 

“Enthusiastic?” Lucia suggested. 

Lio’s frown deepened, indicating that wasn’t the word he was thinking of.

“I’m back! Here, this is for you.” Galo passed the cider over to Lio. Their fingers touched briefly and both of them looked away from the other.

Lucia gave Heris another pointed look. Suddenly, she understood. Yes, if she wanted to keep Galo away from Aina, all she needed to do was steer him toward Lio.

—————————

“Aina, you didn’t tell me that your sister was coming.” Lucia commented once they got the group moving again. It had taken them a full twenty minutes to convince Galo to leave the caroling competition. Every song had been his favorite.

“She kind of invited herself when I told her that Galo was going to be here.” Aina shrugged.

“Galo?” Lucia repeated in surprise. There was no way that Heris had feelings for Galo, was there? She glanced back to where Heris trailing along behind the rest of the group, noting that she had somehow gotten several yards behind the rest. Lucia stopped to let Heris catch up. “Heris! You’re straggling.”

“…It’s just… crowds…” Heris looked pale and wide-eyed.

Maybe we need a break, Lucia thought as she looked around. She spotted the familiar logo of Promepolis Coffee Co atop one of the nearby buildings. While their location was several blocks outside of the main shopping district, they could still use their employee discount at this store. Lucia couldn’t resist a bargain.

Placing her fingers in her mouth, Lucia let out a sharp whistle. The boys, who weren’t paying attention to the rest of them and had gotten even further ahead, stopped and turned. She pointed at the Promepolis Coffee Co sign. “An army marches on its stomach! We need caffeine!”

“Varys!!” Galo shouted with his usual lack of of volume control as soon as they were through the door.

“Yo, Galo!” the huge man behind the counter greeted Galo with enthusiasm. “What are you doing here? Can’t stay away from us, huh?”

“This is my store!” Galo turned to the group excitedly. He turned back to Varys and the two did a complicated handshake-fistbump-thing. “You guys miss me?”

“Not a bit.” Varys grinned.

“Hey!” Galo protested before turning back to the group. “They love me here, I promise.”

Everyone went through and placed orders, except Lio who claimed to be cutting back on caffeine. While they were waiting for the drinks to be made, Galo showed off the store to them, but most of his focus was on Lio. Watching Lio fumble through Galo’s attention was amusing to Lucia, but Galo was unfailingly nice to everyone. She hadn’t thought much of it (other than Galo being oblivious to the effect he had on people) until the gloves. She’d seen Galo with those gloves and now Lio had the gloves. What an interesting development.

“You feeling better, Heris?” Aina asked as she handed her sister a hot chocolate.

“I think so.” She managed a small smile. “Don’t worry about me so much.”

Aina clapped her hands together to get the group’s attention. “Time is short. Now that we’re fueled up, let’s move along.”

“Spoken like a true shift manager.” Lucia commented.

Aina glared in her direction, but Lucia grinned and feigned innocence.

As the group started to make their way to the door, Heris stood up suddenly, knocking Lio right into Galo. Galo caught him easily and steadied Lio. “Hey, good thing I was here to catch you. You should be careful.”

“I’m fine.” Lio snapped, tugging on his hoodie to straighten it out. He gave an odd look to Heris and she looked away.

Another interesting development.

—————————

“Hey, good thing I was here to catch you. You should be careful.” Galo could feel the warmth of Lio’s hand where it pressed into his chest. He took Lio’s shoulders and help him right himself.

“I’m fine.” Lio looked away briskly, his hair flaring up with movement. Galo caught the slightest glimpse of Lio’s earring. Wow.

Galo gripped his coffee cup tighter to ward off the cold as they left the shop. The rapidly waning afternoon was turning colder, thick clouds rolling in overhead. Snow right before Christmas would be the best, so he hoped the weather forecasts would be right. If it snowed, the shopping district would look like a picture out of a movie — lights, carolers, children with their eyes all aglow. Christmas was great! “Wow, I’m fired up!”

Everyone stopped to stare at him. He’d said that out loud, hadn’t he? Time for a distraction tactic. “LOOK! The carousel!”

While everyone else was looking away, Galo marched over to stand next to Lio. “You ever been on the carousel?”

“No.” Lio shrugged in disinterest.

“It’s the special Christmas carousel! They put it up every year. I can’t believe you’ve never been on it before!” Galo continued in the direction of the carousel with determined steps.

Galo heard the distinct sound of Aina slapping herself in the forehead. “We haven’t even—”

Lucia snickered.

Lio followed after Galo, coming to stand next to him at the low fence barricade that ran around the carousel. He put his hands up on the barricade, leaning against it. Galo’s heart soared whenever he saw Lio wearing the orange gloves. Trying to keep casual, Galo put his hands up on the barricade as well. They were almost touching. 

Just a little further and they could hold hands. Galo Thymos never backed away from a challenge. So why wouldn’t his hand just move?!

“You want to go on the carousel, Lio?” Galo smiled down at the shorter man.

“It’s a bit… juvenile, isn’t it?” Lio nodded toward the carousel. The passengers were mostly kids with parents snapping photos from the sidelines.

“No way! I used to come here every year with my gran—” he paused, feeling his throat close up a bit.

Lio tilted his head at Galo questioningly.

“How can you have not gone on the special Christmas carousel?!” Galo demanded.

“I didn’t grow up around here. Stop making such a big deal out of it!” Lio did that cute thing where he huffed and looked away to hide that he was embarrassed.

“Lio.” 

On hearing his name, Lio looked up at him. Galo didn’t really have anything to say, he just liked saying Lio’s name sometimes. And his lips looked especially shiny somehow. Wow.

“What are you looking at?” Lio asked in annoyance.

There were a lot of things for Galo to look at. He wanted to ask Lio about the pink and blue triangle design on his t-shirt (which was partially obscured under his hoodie). Then there was his cross body bag and all the pins (he knew some of them, like the rainbow, but there were others he didn’t know). Lio’s earring was the most intriguing mystery of all (why was it just one earring? And why did it do such weird thing to his heart?).

“Are you okay?” Lio raised an eyebrow.

“We’re going on the carousel! It’s a tradition, you have to do it!” Galo pumped his fist up into the air and took off for the ticket seller’s booth before anyone could stop him.

—————————

Despite Galo’s insistence that they ride the carousel, as soon as the music started and the ride was in motion, Galo watched the sidelines with a melancholy expression. His eyes moved over the crowd as if he were looking for someone. When he turned back to see how Lio was enjoying the ride, Lio gave him a smile and Galo brightened. He liked seeing Galo smile better.

On their next revolution, Galo waved at someone lined up against the barricade. Lio followed his gaze and the motion of a person waving back at Galo to spot Meis and Gueira. Meis had his camera up and was filming.

“Ah!” Lio pointed at them, frowning with all his might.

Gueira grinned and waved as if nothing were wrong, but Meis continued filming.

As soon as the carousel stopped, Lio hopped down from the white horse he’d been riding and jumped over the barricade fence.

“No jumping the barricade.” A bored voice warned Lio as he was mid-air.

“Delete all those videos now!” he demanded.

Meis tucked his phone away into his pocket. “Not a chance, boss.”

Gueira dropped an arm over Lio’s shoulders. “Told you we’d meet up with you after work. You don’t have a single bag, have you bought even a single present for me?”

“Neither of you are getting anything unless you delete those photos.” Lio threatened.

“Your smiling face on the carousel is all the present I need.” Meis replied serenely.

Gueira emphatically nodded agreement. “Mhmm.”

“Hey, you must be Meis and Gueira.” 

Lio froze in place when he heard Galo’s voice. He had so far managed to keep Galo and his roommates from meeting each other. This must be divine punishment. 

“That’s us.” Gueira let go of Lio to hold his hand out to Galo. 

“I’m Galo Thymos! It’s a pleasure to meet Lio’s friends!” He grasped Gueira’s hand and shook it enthusiastically.

“Gueira.” Gueira pointed to himself then over at Meis. “Meis.”

“Peace.” Meis flashed a peace symbol at Galo.

Galo shook Meis’ hand as well. “Lio talks about you all the time.”

“Only good things, I hope.” Meis commented.

“Well…” Galo scratched the side of his head. Lio didn’t say many nice things about anyone.

Gueira laughed. “Actually, Lio talks about you—”

“Okay!” Lio grasped Galo’s wrist and pulled him away from Meis and Gueira. “Galo, buy me some kettle corn.”

Once they were far enough away from Meis and Gueira, Lio let go of Galo’s wrist. He sighed.

“Are you hungry, Lio?” Galo asked, looking somewhat confused by this new development. “Just say the word, I’ll get anything you want!”

“I’m not—” Lio rubbed his forehead. What was wrong with him lately? He’d spent forever picking out his outfit for today. He’d put on lip gloss and eyeliner. It’s just a friend get-together. Galo was just a friend.

“When was the last time you ate anything?” Galo asked. “The rest of us have been snacking all afternoon, but I haven’t seen you eat anything except that cider at the caroling competition.”

“I had breakfast.” Lio stated defensively.

“You have to take care of yourself! You could get sick! Especially when the weather is cold like this!” Galo sounded especially distraught at this idea.

“Okay, okay…” Lio agreed, if just to get him to stop worrying.

“I’ll buy you an empanada.” Galo offered.

“You don’t have to buy me an empanada! Stop wasting your money on me!” Lio protested, crossing his arms. Pressure built up inside of him.

“Yeah well you—!” Galo poked Lio in the forehead to emphasize his point. “Won’t spend any money on yourself!”

“I’m broke! I don’t have any money to spend, you idiot!” Lio’s voice cracked a little, the pressure breaking. He hated admitting it out loud, how desperate and sad and tired he was. There was never enough money to go around. He kicked the closest bench, which only made his foot hurt and didn’t damage the bench at all. “Fuck.”

Galo stared at him before speaking. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”

Lio stared at the ground which had suddenly gotten quite interesting. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Galo’s hand twitch, making a motion for Lio’s own hand. Instinctively, Lio pulled his hand away. Why was he like this? Why couldn’t he just take kindness when it was offered?

“Galo.”

On hearing his name, Galo turned to Lio, giving him an apologetic smile. Lio pulled off his glove and grabbed Galo’s hand so fiercely he could hear their palms slap together. When Lio laced his fingers between Galo’s, he was rewarded by Galo turning a vibrant red. 

“Wow.” Galo squeezed Lio’s hand.

Lio didn’t know what to do now that he’d reached this point. Both of them seemed determined to look at anything but the other person. Should he say something? Should Galo say something? Why was his heart going so fast?

“I feel like an empanada. You want one?” Galo offered in an overly casual tone

Lio took a moment to take a deep breath and quell his panic before answering. “What kind of empanadas do they have?”

Lio followed after Galo by a few steps as he approached the empanada food truck. In the crowd, he had to stand nearly shoulder to shoulder with Galo in order to read the menu. Now that the initial awkwardness had broken, he rather liked the warmth of Galo’s hand against his own. “I’ll have the spinach and cheese empanada.” He, too, kept his voice as not-freaking-out-inside as possible.

“You should probably eat some protein, you know, Lio. There’s a chicken curry empanada, that sounds pretty good.” Galo commented as he looked the menu over. 

“Ew, no. I’m vegetarian.”

Galo stared at him as if he’d told him that the sky was purple. “AAH!! How did I not realize you’re vegetarian!?”

“Why—?! Why are you shouting about it?!”

—————————

“The only way we are getting anything done is if we split up.” Aina concluded after Lio’s roommates had shown up. “Divide and conquer!”

So Lucia found herself trailing along after Aina inside a fancy department store as she went down her detailed list of every friend or family member she needed to get presents for. Lucia crunched on a lollipop as they walked. It was a special flavor they only sold at the holidays — peppermint and white chocolate — and she thought it might put her in the spirit. What would have really put Lucia in the holiday spirit was getting Guiera or Galo to do something stupid, but they had split off into separate groups.

There was always next time.

“Aina.” Lucia withdrew the lollipop. “…Aina, are you sure you don’t have feelings for Galo?”

Aina froze in the middle of inspecting a sweater off a store rack. “What makes you ask that?”

Lucia had to choose her words carefully. “You’re my best friend so I’ll support you no matter what. But if you don’t say something to Galo, he’s going to run off with someone else.”

Slowly, Aina replaced the sweater on the rack. “No, I don’t like him that way. When I was little, I thought we’d get married when we grew up, because that’s how it is in movies. But then I grew up and realized I didn’t want to marry him.”

“You don’t have to marry him to like him.” Lucia countered.

“That’s true…” Aina sighed. “He’s more like a little brother to me. The thought of kissing him is actually kind of gross.”

Lucia laughed with relief. “Yeah, I wouldn’t want to kiss him either.”

“He tried once when we were in high school.” Aina admitted, flushing a little. “But I turned my head at the last minute and he just ended up getting my cheek. Then he acted like he meant to do that!”

Lucia nodded. “Sounds like something stupid he’d do.”

“What about you, Lucia?” Aina turned to her friend.

“Me?” Lucia chipped at her lollipop with her teeth. “Tch. There isn’t anyone I’m into that way. I’m too dedicated to my hobbies. I don’t have time for romance.”

“Oh…” Aina actually looked a little relieved. “Well, there’s someone I like who isn’t Galo…”

But no matter how much Lucia prodded her, Aina wouldn’t tell her who it was.

—————————

Lio held up one scarf and then the other. Neither of them were really in his price range and neither of them really looked like something Gueira would wear. Briefly, the memory of holding Galo’s hand flashed into his mind. Keep focused, Lio. Just pick a scarf.

“Gueira will like anything that you pick out for him, boss.” Meis noted as he watched Lio go back and forth over the scarves.

“He should get something cool.” Lio muttered as he held up a scarf with a houndstooth pattern. “Wish I could get him a new jacket.”

Meis raised an eyebrow. “You can’t replace that. It’s his signature piece.”

“Yeah, but it’s falling apart.”

“You think too much about what you don’t have. Anyway, I think the patterned scarf looks cool.”

“The houndstooth?” Lio held it up for a second look. He tried to imagine Gueira wearing a houndstooth scarf over his jacket. “What did you get him?”

Meis’ smirked. “Are you sure you want to know?”

Ugh, was it some sex thing? “I take it back, don’t answer the question.”

“Let’s just say, it’s something he’ll really enjoy.” Meis’ smile widened.

“Please keep our tree family friendly.” Lio remarked dryly.

Meis patted Lio on the shoulder. “One day you’ll understand.” 

“I don’t think I want to.” Lio checked the price tag on the scarf. Ouch. He guessed he could live on ramen for a little while. There was a vegetarian ramen he didn’t mind too much.

Abruptly, he felt Meis’ grip on his shoulder tighten. “Boss.”

Lio looked up. Two cops stood by the door, talking to one of the store employees. Cold washed over Lio as he recognized the taller of the two of them. Vulcan Haestus. “Shit.”

In unison, the two of them spun so they were facing away from the door. Maybe he wouldn’t see them.

“What do we do?” Meis whispered hoarsely.

Lio glanced over his shoulder and clenched his fists. He’d vowed to get revenge on Haestus if he ever saw him again. He’d never forgive him for what he did three years ago, ever. 

“Get Gueira. Let’s get out of here for now.” Lio stopped himself. Why were they running? They weren’t doing anything wrong. Regardless, Lio felt a burning need to keep Haestus from both Meis and Gueira. Protect them, keep them safe. “Act like you belong. We’re customers after all.”

“I don’t like leaving you.” Meis’ voice was dark.

“Out of the three of us, he’s least likely to recognize me.” Lio had grown his hair out considerably in three years. “I’ll keep an eye on him and meet up with you in a bit.”

Meis hesitated a moment before nodding, standing up to his full height and sauntering away to find Galo and Gueira. Lio was the boss after all. Keep cool, keep cool, Lio thought, but inwardly cursed Meis for being so damn tall. He clearly stood out as someone who did not belong in this department store.

Lio made a big show of looking at a pine green scarf. When Lio looked up, he locked eyes with Haestus. The cop grinned like the cat that caught the canary. Lio realized too late that he’d made a grave mistake thinking Haestus wouldn’t recognize him.

—————————

Heris wasn’t sure how she’d gotten paired up with Glasses, but at least she could relax knowing that Aina was not with Galo. However, it was becoming increasingly awkward that she didn’t know Glasses’ name. Someone must have mentioned it or she had to get him to mention it somehow.

“How long have you known Galo?” Glasses asked as Heris looked at make up palettes for Aina.

“Since we were kids.” Heris answered, putting the make up back. No, not quite right for Aina.

“Hm. You know, as his former roommate, I think I’m entitled to an embarrassing story or two.” Glasses followed after as Heris moved onward. 

None of these were good enough for Aina. “Galo used to be a cry baby. And he’s afraid of ghost stories.”

“Ghost stories. That could prove useful.” Glasses mused.

Heris didn’t know how any of that would be useful to anyone. 

“Let go of me, you stupid fucking pig cop!”

The voice sounded familiar, but Heris couldn’t place it. 

“Is that Lio’s voice?” Glasses asked.

—————————

“You can’t do this! You can’t just throw a guy on the ground like that! He didn’t do anything!” Galo shouted at the officer. Meis had an arm around Gueira, visibly restraining him.

One of the policeman, the larger of the two, had Lio pinned to ground, arms behind his back. “He was resisting arrest.”

“What right do you have to-to-” Galo thought he’d heard Remi use smart words like ‘rights’ before, but now he couldn’t remember any of them. “I thought police officers were allies of justice!”

Lio, for his part, glared daggers at the officer. “Fuck cops.”

The large cop shook Lio. “This little brat is a known shoplifter.” He glanced over at Galo. “What other crimes have you committed, Fotia? You have quite the resume! Trespassing. Vandalism. Attempted assault.”

“Lio wouldn’t do anything like that!” Galo protested loudly.

“I’ll attempt assault on your—!” Gueira shouted at the same time.

“I’d stay out of this unless you two want to join him!” The officer roared back at them.

“Excuse me, officer. Is there a problem here?” Remi’s voice cut through the mayhem, the sound of reason in a rapidly escalating situation.

Galo had never been happier to see Remi in his life — except maybe for all those times Remi had brought pizza home back when they’d been roommates. Remi could sling around his law school phrases and prove that Lio hadn’t done anything wrong. After several tense minutes where Remi mentioned that they hadn’t been able to find any stolen property on Lio, they had been using undue force on an unarmed individual and that Lio would probably be very sympathetic if this were to go to court, the two officers released Lio. By this time, Aina and Lucia had shown up and the proceedings had started to draw quite a crowd.

“More trouble than its worth.” One of them stated, glancing around at the gathering of people.

The other officer narrowed his eyes at Lio. “Keep your nose clean, Fotia. Or this isn’t the last you’ve seen of me.” It was more of a threat than a statement, even Galo could tell that.

Gueira flipped the policemen off once their backs were turned, then immediately dropped onto his knees to check on Lio. Meis knelt next to Lio, checking him over for any sign of injury.

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” Sitting upright now, Lio assured his roommates although Galo noticed him wince a little with movement.

Galo knelt and picked up the contents of Lio’s bag which had spilled during the confrontation. This included (among other things): Lio’s cell phone (cracked screen), wallet (very thin), keys (cute red panda key ring), and a condom (this was neither the time or place, but Galo’s mind immediately jumped to the implications of that item). 

“Here.” He held them out to Lio who took them without so much as thank you. Galo wanted to say something, Lio looked miserable, but he couldn’t find any words. 

Lio grabbed his bag, jammed his possessions back into it and got to his feet. Glaring at the group in turn, he dared any of them to say something. 

“Lio—” Galo started, but Lio pulled his hood up with a jerk and turned away.

“Fuck it, I’m leaving.” Lio shoved his hands in his pockets, Meis and Gueira flanking him as they made their way to the exit.

Galo knelt again, picking up a rainbow heart enamel pin off the ground. It must have come off Lio’s bag. He’d keep it for Lio and give it back to him later.

“Go after him, you dingdong.” Lucia placed her hand against Galo’s back and gave him a small shove.

Right, right! Breaking into a run, Galo broke for the door, nearly mowing down a woman with too many shopping bags in the process. “Sorry!!” he apologized as he ran past her.

Once he pushed past the front doors and out onto the street, cold hit him like a wall. Fat, white flakes drifted out of the dark night sky. The snowfall that had been predicted was finally here. Not a thin, slushy snow like before, but the kind that turns everything white. Galo had wanted it to snow before, but now he wanted it stop. He couldn’t see Lio through all the white.

“Lio! Lio!” Galo called for him. “Lio!!”

There was nothing, no answer. Only softly falling snow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear this is going to be the most Christmas chapter and they’ll be less overtly Christmas after this. My thought for this one was that I’d write a chapter that was from multiple viewpoints and that it might be kind of fun to set that during the most wonderful time of the year — Christmas shopping! Actually, Christmas shopping is stressful and terrible! I hate it!
> 
> Back to the more regular Lio POV chapters next time.
> 
> And no, I don’t know who is working in the coffee shop while all this is going on.
> 
> I hadn’t been planning to have this chapter end this way, but I love making my favorite characters suffer. Sorry, Lio, you are not having a good time in this one.
> 
> Meis and Gueira are Lio’s #1 fans, you bet they are keeping and treasuring all those photos and videos Meis took of him on the carousel. (They will sell them to Galo for a profit.)
> 
> Next time: Will Galo return Lio’s heart (pin)? What did Meis buy Gueira for Christmas?


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lio and Galo ask each other the important questions

Lio paced up and down their narrow kitchen, arms wrapped tight around himself. The problem was Lio liked to run his mouth. It had been his problem with school, with his dad and with Vulcan Haestus. The problem was people in authority liked to abuse their power. It had been his problem with a long list of people including, but not limited to, teachers, cops and his dad (again). 

The problem was they’d worked very hard to build something for themselves. They had a roof over their heads, they usually had food on their plates, they had a home together. And here was Vulcan Haestus to remind them how fragile all that was, how easy it would be to take it all away from them. Because of what, a stupid grudge against Lio for something he’d done when he was a teenager? Or simply because Haestus had all the power and they didn’t?

If Lio could be granted one superpower, he wanted the ability to burn it all down. He would build something new out of the ashes, something better.

“Lio, what the fuck are you doing still awake?” Gueira watched him with eyes still bleary from sleep.

Gueira used Lio’s actual name so infrequently that it made him stop pacing. “I can’t sleep.”

“No shit.” Gueira yawned. “Meis says I’m supposed to bring you to bed if you’re the one stomping around in the kitchen.”

“I’m fine, I don’t need-”

“We’ve all had a rough day.” Gueira sleepily ran a hand through his hair. “Don’t make me fight you.”

Lio heaved a sigh. “Fine.”

Meis scooted over in the bed when he saw the two of them enter the room. The bed was barely large enough to accommodate Meis and Gueira, but Lio was pretty small and could fit between the two of them. The three of them had frequently shared sleeping bags in the early days both for warmth and comfort. Things had been back then as they were now — the three of them united against the rest of the world.

Meis rubbed Lio’s back once he’d settled under the covers. “It’s been a while since we all shared a bed. Kind of missed it.”

“Mm.” Lio made a noncommittal noise.

“Yo. Fuck Haestus!” Gueira pounded one fist into his palm over the covers. “I’ll murder that piece of shit next time I see him.”

“Sshh, this is quiet time, babe.” Meis reach over Lio’s head to stroke Gueira’s hair.

“He’s the one that fucked up your eye!” Gueira sat up in bed, his emotions too much to take lying down. “I wasn’t even there! I couldn’t protect you!”

Meis reached over and took Gueira’s hand. “I know.” Then after a long pause. “Hey. I only need one eye to see you, baby.”

Gueira snorted, but the anger drained out of him. “That was terrible.” He flopped backward, narrowly avoiding hitting his head against the headboard. “How the fuck does that guy even have a job?”

“Because no one cares about us. That’s why we have to look out for each other.” Lio answered, his voice dark.

“I shouldn’t have left you…” Meis muttered.

“It’s not your fault.” Lio snuggled down into the covers which seemed to be the cue for the other two to follow. Under the covers, Lio took a hand from each of his friends. 

“How are you feeling?” Meis asked.

Lio took a deep breath, testing the pain in his ribs. It hurt, but he doubted anything was broken. “I’ve been worse.”

“Your hair is getting kind of long, boss.” Gueira commented as he settled in next to Lio.

“Mm…” 

“You know, some people get a white noise machine if they’re prone to insomnia.” Meis yawned.

“Why would I do that when I can have this?” Lio closed his eyes.

Gueira laughed quietly. “You know, he has a point.”

—————————

Lio ran through twisting and turning hallways. No matter how far he ran, he couldn’t find a way out, there was nowhere to hide, and his hands were covered in blood…

“Lio! Get out of bed!” Gueira yelled.

Ugh. He hadn’t had that dream in a while. He pulled the covers up over his head. “Leave me alone and let me die.”

“If you’re going to stay in bed, at least move to your own!” 

“Go away.” Lio mumbled into the pillow, but it came out as more of a incoherent jumble.

“Rise and shine!!” Gueira ripped the covers off the bed.

“RAAAAH! I’ll kill you!!” Lio jumped out of bed.

“Meis! Hide me! Lio’s gone dragon mode!” Guiera exclaimed as he skidded into the kitchen with Lio hot on his heels.

“It’s cold and you just ripped the covers off!” Lio jumped on Gueira’s back.

Gueira staggered slightly under Lio’s weight, reached around to carry him piggyback style. “You’re such a pain in the ass in the morning.”

“Our downstairs neighbors hate us.” Meis commented as he stuck a piece of toast into Lio’s mouth.

Hopping down from Gueira’s back, Lio munched on his toast. Meis also handed Lio a mug of tea and a banana which he took over to the table. 

“Caffeine for Lio. Kisses for my boyfriend.” Grinning, Meis leaned closer to Gueira for a kiss.

One kiss was never enough for Gueira. Grabbing the front of Meis shirt, he pulled him in for a second kiss. Lio rolled his eyes and stared up at the ceiling as he ate his banana. With a loud thud and some heavy breathing, the two of them collided with a wall. Gueira and Lio goofing around was not the only reason their neighbors hated them.

Lio downed his tea, wincing as it burned his throat, and slammed the mug onto the table. The sound didn’t do much to distract the two of them. He left them and went into his room to change for his morning jog. As he pulled his shirt on, Lio wondered what he would do if Haestus happened to be around when he was out jogging. They didn’t live that far from the shopping district, it could conceivably happen. He’d be alone. His stomach churned uneasily over his breakfast.

He was not letting that man force him into living in fear.

“I’m going out for my jog.” 

By the time Lio emerged from his room, Meis and Gueira had ceased their impromptu make out session and they were seated next to each other at the table. At his words, they both stared at him.

“Boss, are you sure that’s safe?” Meis asked.

Gueira nodded emphatically. “Haestus has a total hate boner for you.”

“Hate boner?” That was certainly a turn of phrase.

Gueira gesticulated with his fork, nearly smacking Meis in the face. “That asshole still has a grudge against you. He’d shank you and leave you in a ditch somewhere if he thought he could get away with it!”

“You made a fool out of him. Adults hate that.” Meis added.

Lio leaned against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest. Part of him wanted to be stubborn and protest, but he sighed. “Fine. I won’t go by myself.” He looked pointedly at his roommates.

“Don’t you have an early shift today?” Gueira asked, suddenly refusing to make eye contact.

“Oh, sure. Now you care about my work schedule.” 

Meis and Gueira enjoyed punching each other at a local boxing gym, but did not quite share Lio’s enthusiasm for running. They had both, at various times, decided to try running with Lio but invariably gave up after neither of them could keep up. He’d either have to convince them to jog with him or come up with some kind of alternate plan.

“Hey.” Meis had a haunted expression. “Are we the adults now?”

—————————

Lio felt both relieved and disappointed that Galo wasn’t in the break room when he showed up for his shift. He’d started to look forward to the cat videos, but he didn’t really want to have to explain the events of the day before. Galo had clearly denied that Lio was capable of committing any of the crimes Haestus had accused him of, which was sweet he supposed, but far from the truth. Aina and Lucia were both gallantly avoiding the topic of the ill fated shopping trip.

“Thyma, grande vanilla soy latte on the bar.” Lio called out as he set the beverage out.

Galo slid in through the front door, waving at everyone out front as he made his way around to the back room. He wore a sweatshirt which read “Fa La La La La La Latte” which was a little too on the nose for Lio’s taste but seemed to be right at Galo’s humor level.

“Can you take over for a bit?” Lio asked Lucia as he finished up his current order.

Lucia gave him an understanding half-smile. Of all the people at the store, she had come closest to guessing his history. “Sure thing. Go talk to Galo.”

He frowned but couldn’t exactly deny her accusation. As soon as he’d called out the drink, he scooted past Lucia into the break room. Galo was in the middle of changing into his ugly sweater — which meant Lio walked in on him pulling his sweatshirt off.

It was like something out of a movie. Galo pulled the shirt off over his head and shook his hair out. Lio got an eyeful of pecs and abs and, holy shit, Galo was hot. 

Panicking, Lio turned to flee, misjudged the placement of the door and ran head first into the door frame with a thud. He staggered back, putting a hand to his head.

“Lio!” Galo was almost immediately at his side, putting one arm around Lio to steady him. “You okay?”

Lio rubbed his forehead. “Yeah. Fine.”

He had definitely noticed Galo’s sleeve before, but he’d always tried not to stare at it. Up close, he was finding it hard not to stare. Through the semi-transparent material, he saw what looked like massive burn scars running up and down Galo’s arm. 

“I was worried you wouldn’t come in today.” Galo admitted softly, not quite letting go of Lio.

Lio was trying very hard not to think too hard about the fact that Galo was essentially holding him with no shirt on. “I need the hours.”

“I’m glad you’re here.”

Lio looked down to hide that he was blushing. He heard Galo inhale quietly. “…are you sniffing me?”

“You smell nice.” Galo defended himself.

Lio pulled away, feeling himself turn bright red. “Put a shirt on, you idiot!”

—————————

“What a night…!” Galo exclaimed as he waved good night to Aina.

“See you two tomorrow.” She waved wearily back as she headed out.

“Just a few more shifts and then Christmas is over.” Lio tugged his gloves on.

“Yeah…” Galo gave that sad smile of his. “You cold?”

“It’s chilly, yeah.” Lio agreed.

Galo held the side of his pea coat open. “Come be my little baby bird and let me keep your warm.”

A slight laugh escaped Lio. “Okay.” He stood next to Galo and let Galo half tuck him into his coat. Craning his neck, Lio looked up at Galo. “You aren’t mad at me for what happened yesterday?”

Galo shook his head. “That wasn’t your fault.”

“I could hear you yelling after me, but I didn’t think I could face you.” Lio admitted under his breath.

“Really? I couldn’t see you at all in the snow.”

“It— Thank you, Galo.” Lio said quietly.

“Anytime. I’ll chase after you as much as you want.” Galo poked Lio in the side of the head. “Next time, maybe I’ll catch you.”

“No one can catch me unless I let them.”

Galo laughed. “I’ve figured this out.”

Lio looked up at Galo again. “You want to talk, don’t you?”

Throughout their shift, Galo had been trying to catch Lio alone. He scratched the side of his head. “Yeah. Was it that obvious?”

“You weren’t subtle.” Lio took a breath to steady his voice. “Let’s make it a deal. You can ask me one question and then I’ll ask you one question. If either of us asks something too personal, the other one can veto it and then you ask a new question.”

Galo brightened. “Sure, yeah, okay. It’s like a challenge!”

“You go first.” He owed Galo that much at least.

Galo tapped his chin while he thought. “That policeman. You two knew each other?”

“Yeah.” Lio shoved his hands into his pocket. “I slashed the tires on his car once.”

“Holy shit, Lio.” Galo looked at him in awe or maybe confusion. “Why would you do something like that?”

“That’s two questions. It’s my turn.” Lio felt his heart hammering in his chest. He wasn’t ready to ask that question yet, so he went for a safe topic. “What are you studying at college?”

“Fire sciences!” Galo exclaimed with far more enthusiasm for the subject than Lio expected.

“You’re a fireman?” Lio asked in shock.

“Volunteer for now. I’m getting my EMT certification, then my fire sciences degree, then I’ll be a firefighter! I’ll save people and keep Promepolis safe! That’s my promise to you!” Passion filled Galo’s voice as he spoke.

Lio reeled at this revelation. A fireman wasn’t a cop, but it was close.

“My turn. Tell me why you slashed the tires on a police officer’s car?” Galo asked.

“He was trying to arrest Meis and Gueira. It was supposed to be a distraction.” Lio answered shortly. “He’s hated me since then, but that was years ago. I’d have thought he’d be over it by now.”

“You’re a delinquent!” Galo noted in a burst. Then he frowned. “Did you really do all those things he said?”

“That’s another question.”

“Okay, okay. Your turn. Ask away.” 

Lio took a deep breath. It seemed stupid to ask at this point, but he had to know. “Galo, are you, uh… straight?”

“Me? Ha! I’m bi. I radiate big bi energy!” Galo proclaimed. He narrowed his eyes at Lio. “Wait, Lio. Did you think I was straight?”

“Um.” In retrospect, it seemed pretty obvious.

“Well… That actually explains a lot.” Galo put his arm around Lio. “I’ve been flirting with you big time. You seem into it, but then you don’t seem into it. It’s been confusing.”

“Huh…” 

“I don’t find cat videos for every boy, you know. Just the cute ones.”

Lio leaned back into Galo. His warmth seeped into Lio. “You’re not dating Aina?”

“That’s two questions, but I’ll answer because I’m so magnificent.”

“Do you mean magnanimous?” Lio asked.

“Magnanimously magnificent!” Galo proclaimed. “We’re not dating. I’ve known her since we were kids. I don’t think either of us is into the other that way.”

“Oh…” Lio was starting to feel pretty stupid.

“Why do Meis and Gueira call you boss?”

For a moment, Lio was thrown by the sudden change of conversation. “Is that your question?”

“Yeah! So answer!”

Lio sighed. “It’s stupid.”

“Go on.” Galo urged him.

“It started as a joke because I was pretty bossy as a kid.” Lio shrugged. “And it stuck.”

Galo stared at Lio, then blinked. “Wait, that’s it? I was expecting there to be more.”

Lio shrugged again.

“Geez. How long have you known Meis and Gueira?”

“No free questions.” 

“Damn.” Galo cursed. “You’re good at this.”

Lio considered his next question. A burst of inspiration hit him. “Do you like jogging?”

Galo grinned sheepishly. “I have to be fit for the whole firefighting thing… I’d say I’m good at it.”

“I need a jogging coach.” Lio didn’t know why he just didn’t tell Galo the truth, except that he didn’t want to make him worry too.

“Really?” Galo grinned, excitement beaming out of him. “Are you asking me?”

Lio nodded. 

Galo opened his mouth to answer, but Meis’ car horn cut him off. 

“Meet me tomorrow morning at the Central Promepolis High School track at 8 am.” Lio figured confidence was the best way to get what he wanted.

“I hope you can keep up with me.” Galo beamed.

“See you tomorrow then.” Lio stepped out of the shelter of Galo’s warmth.

Before Lio could step away, Galo reached out and took hold of Lio’s hand. He studied Lio’s face a moment before saying, “I like when you smile.”

Meis honked again and Lio pulled his hand free. What an idiot. Lio felt himself flushing as he walked out to the car.

—————————

Lio half expected that Galo would ditch him, but when he showed up at the CPHS track that morning, Galo was waiting for him, breath forming white puffs around him as he did warm up stretches. He wore a bright orange track jacket with matching jersey joggers. Suddenly, Lio had an inkling why he had a spare pare of orange gloves around his house.

“Check it out.” Galo turned around to show the FDPP logo on the back of his jacket. 

“Nice. You fond of orange or something?” Lio fell into place next to him, doing his own pre-run stretches.

“Orange is the proud color of firefighters! Do you ever wear anything other than black?” Galo teased.

“Black looks good on me.”

“So it’s your color, huh?”

Lio stretched out his calves and noted that Galo was rather unsubtly checking out his butt. How did he ever think Galo was straight? “Sometimes I wear white.”

“Like a penguin?”

“Something like that.” He pushed Galo lightly in the arm. “Come on, let’s run.”

“Follow me, student!” Galo took off without any more urging.

The two of them made a few laps around the track. To Lio’s surprise and delight, Galo was more than able to keep pace with him. Something about having someone to run with him made Lio want to go even faster. After the warm up laps, they hit the streets.

“Hey, can I meet Smoky?” Galo asked when they had stopped at a light.

Sweaty hair stuck to the back of Lio’s neck. He may have been pushing himself to show off for Galo a little. “If he’s around.”

Lio led the way to the alley where Smoky usually hung out. He tipped out a handful of cat treats into Galo’s hand. “I’ll call him.”

Galo crouched down, holding out his hand while Lio clicked his tongue. Like a small gray shadow, Smoky appeared to rub on Lio’s legs. Lio leaned down to scratch his cheeks. “Hey, Smoky. Hi.”

Holding out the treats, Galo scooted closer. “Smoky! You’re Lio’s little buddy, huh? I have treats!”

Cautiously, Smoky approached Galo. After he sniffed Galo’s hands, he took a hesitant bite of the handful of treats. Galo reached out to pet Smoky, but as soon as he came within six inches of the cat, Smoky hissed and lashed out at Galo. With a look of deep betrayal in Lio’s direction, Smoky dashed back into the alley.

“Lio, he hates me.” Galo looked stricken. Forlornly, he left the remaining cat treats on the sidewalk before straightening up.

“I think he might have had some bad experiences with people in the past, so he’s wary meeting new people.” Lio patted Galo’s shoulder. “If you work at it, he’ll warm up to you.”

Galo regarded Lio a moment before responding. “I think I’d like to get to know ‘Smoky’ more.”

“Why did you put air quotes around Smoky?” Lio asked.

Instead of responding, Galo grinned and started jogging down the block again.

“Wait, did you mean me?! Galo, get back here!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After finishing the last chapter, I feel a deep need to write some Lio, Meis and Gueira stuff. I just really love them and I want more!
> 
> There’s a lot of talking in this one, but Galo and Lio had some stuff to discuss if this was ever going to move forward.
> 
> Next time: How many cheesy holiday shirts does Galo own? Will Smoky ever be friends with anyone other than Lio?


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Galo takes Lio out on a not-not a date

“Let me take you home tonight.” Galo leaned in close to ask as Lio took off his jacket in the break room.

“What? No!” Lio snapped reflexively.

“That came out wrong! Shit, I was trying to sound smooth.” Galo sighed in frustration. He leaned against the locker next to Lio, assuming an air of nonchalance. “Let’s try that again. May I take you from work to your apartment tonight?”

“Sure?” Lio answered. “I’ll text Meis and tell him not to pick me up.”

“Great!” Galo popped upright with excitement, a wide smile on his face. “Tell your roommates you’ll be home a little late. I want to take you somewhere.”

“Take me somewhere?” Lio felt skeptical.

“It’s a secret.” Galo winked before he strode away from Lio over to the table in the center of the room.

Lio slowly closed the door to the locker. “…Galo, is this your weird way of asking me out on a date?”

“It’s not a date!” Galo answered in an offhand way as he upended his messenger bag and pulled out his ugly work sweater.

Hastily, Lio turned around, fumbled with the locker and grabbed his own sweater out of his bag. He didn’t want a repeat of a few days ago when he’d accidentally walked in on Galo. “I’m changing.”

“Galo! Don’t just rip your shirt off in the break room!” Aina shouted as she came into the back.

Once in the relative quiet of the bathroom, Lio caught sight of his shirt — a sweatshirt from the boxing gym that his roommates frequented which he’d ‘borrowed’ from Gueira. In other words, a laundry day shirt. Frowning, he pulled that shirt off and replaced it with his work shirt. There was no way he was going on a date with Galo (if this was a date) in a sweatshirt with coffee stains on it.

“That’s a scary face, Lio.” Lucia looked up from a large cup which she was currently stuffing marshmallows into.

“I need you to find out if it’s a date.”

“Huh!? What are you talking about?” Lucia popped one of the marshmallows into her mouth.

“Galo says he wants to take me somewhere after work.” Lio leaned against the counter.

Lucia grinned with her sharp looking teeth. “Good for him. It’s about damn time.”

“He says it’s not a date.” Lio narrowed his eyes as he spoke.

“Hey, how many of you does it take to work the machine?” Aina warned as she passed by.

“Yes, shift leader!” Lucia called out after her, then turned to Lio. “It’s probably not a date then.”

“Just ask him.” Seeing Lucia’s expression remain unchanged, Lio added. “Please?”

“That sounds like a favor, Lio Fotia. And you know that Lucia Fex doesn’t work for free.” 

Galo burst out of the back room, saluting smartly at Aina. “Galo Thymos, reporting for duty!”

He said that every time he started a shift. Lio used to think it was stupid, but now it was growing on him. Fuck. Turning his attention back to Lucia, he asked. “Okay, what’s your price?”

“I’m working on a new drink and I want you to try it.” She smiled devilishly as she overturned a mixture of coffee and who knows what else over the marshmallow cup.

“I don’t eat marshmallows, they have gelatin in them.” Lio grumbled. “Can’t you just… no marshmallows?”

“The marshmallows are the point!” Lucia exclaimed. “If you won’t, then make Galo do it.”

“I can’t- He—” Lio’s brain broke a little at the concept that he could make Galo do anything. The man did whatever he got it into his head to do!

“He’ll do it if you ask.” Lucia wiggled her eyebrows at him.

“Fine.” Might as well prove Lucia wrong. “Galo! Drink this!”

With a spring to his step, Galo bounced over, eyed the suspicious beverage and asked, “The whole thing?”

“The whole thing.” Lucia did her best to look innocent.

“Cheers!” Without hesitation, Galo threw his head back and downed the drink.

As it slowly dawned on both Lio and Lucia that Galo intended to drink the whole thing in one go, Lucia started snickering. Galo’s eyes started to water as the heat of the beverage seared his throat, but he showed no sign of actually stopping.

“Galo, no… You don’t have to…” Lio weakly reached out to try to stop Galo, but Galo held his finger up to indicate that he would be done in one more second.

“Ah-haaaa!” Galo nearly shouted as he finished the drink. “You didn’t think I could do it, did you!?”

“I never doubted you, but Lio did.” Lucia snapped the cup back from Galo and inspected it. “Hm, you even ate the marshmallows. How do you think that added to the flavor?”

“It was really sweet, Lucia. But I kinda liked it!” He glanced over at Lio. “I can eat way more than ten marshmallows, Lio.”

“That’s not something to brag about.” Lio wondered if fueling Galo up on sugar and caffeine at the start of a shift was really a good idea.

“Hey, big guy, I have a question for you.” Lucia tossed the paper cup into the bin labeled ‘compost’ and grabbed Galo’s arm to drag him into the back room.

Lio took over the espresso machine while Lucia and Galo were in the back. The conversation didn’t last very long before they re-emerged, Galo flashing a smile at Lio before taking up his spot at the register.

“He says it’s not a date.” Lucia stated as she stood next to Lio. “But he says it’s not-not-a-date.”

If Lio had arms long enough, he would reach over to the register and strangle Galo. “What does that mean!? I didn’t come dressed to go on a date!”

“Just call your roommates and have them drop off something.” Lucia suggested.

“They’re at work.” Lio sighed in frustration. “I’ll just tell him I can’t do it.”

Lucia grabbed his arm. “Don’t you dare. You can’t call this off just because you don’t look pretty enough, you vain toadstool.”

Lio glared. “I am not vain.”

Lucia burst into laughter. Lio crossed his arms and let her laugh until she had to stop and wipe tears out of her eyes. 

“Done?” Lio asked when she finally ran out of steam.

She nodded. 

“I just want to look good if it’s our—” Lio swallowed, unable to quite believe he was saying this “— our first date.”

“Mad genius girl Lucia had an idea. Thanks for the laughs, Lio!” She skipped off to leave Lio alone to man the espresso machine.

Scowling, Lio turned his attention to work and tried to ignore whatever idea Lucia might have had. Whatever it was, he was sure that he was the one who was going to end up paying for it in the end.

—————————

“Heris!” Aina brightened up when she saw her sister walk into the store. She rounded the counter and hugged her sister. “Thank you for coming.”

Heris wrapped her sister up in her arms, returning the hug gratefully. “I’m happy to help, Aina.”

“You’re a life saver.” Aina laughed.

Heris patted her sister on the head fondly. “Anything for you. May I speak with Lio?”

Lio looked up when he heard his name. What on earth did this have to do with him?

“Lio. I have a delivery for you.” Heris held up a bag.

“Delivery?” Lio asked in confusion, looking over to Aina and Lucia for some kind of clue what was going on. Heris thrust the bag toward Lio and he took it. “Thanks. I think.”

“Galo used to be a cry baby. And he’s afraid of ghost stories. Someone told me that would be useful information.” She hesitated a moment before awkwardly patting Lio on the shoulder.

“Okay…” Lio stepped away from her.

“He’s also straightforward to a fault, kind-hearted and a little dense.” Heris added.

Lio glanced over his shoulder to where Galo was chatting with a customer. “Yeah. I know.”

“You have to be blunt with him if you want him to understand your feelings.”

Lio nodded, not really sure what to do with this sudden dump of information.

Heris took a deep breath before giving Lio a thumbs up which didn’t quite match her dour expression. “Go get him, tiger.”

“Thanks?”

She blinked. “I’m leaving now.”

Lio took the bag into the backroom and looked inside to find a green cashmere sweater and a black leather jacket. Both were obviously Aina’s and both were nicer than anything he currently owned.

“What do you think?” Lucia asked. “Told you I had a genius idea.”

Lio looked up from the bag. “What is this?” 

“An outfit. For your date. You and Aina are close enough in size, it should work.” Lucia smiled. “Heris was very amenable to dropping off a change of clothes for you.”

“Hm.” Lio ran his fingers over the leather jacket. 

“It’s fake, don’t worry. Smol Squad has to stick together, right?” Lucia grinned and wiggled her fingers. “And now you owe me 50 pounds of candy or something.”

—————————

When the store finally closed, Aina and Lucia made some excuse for Lio to slip off so Galo wouldn’t notice. Lio changed slowly and deliberately in the bathroom. He felt grateful to the two of them for the help, exhausted from a long day at work, and a mix of both excitement and dread at the prospect of a not-not-a-date with Galo. Aina’s sweater and jacket fit well and, after a bit of freshening up, his hair looked perfect. Aina had even lent him some eyeliner and Lio always had lip gloss on him.

So now all he had to do was face Galo. He took a deep breath. He was not nervous at all. And if his hands were shaking a little, that didn’t mean anything.

“Galo, you ready to go?” Lio asked as he came out of the back.

The mop slipped from Galo’s hands as he stared at Lio. “Um, uh…” he flexed his hands, suddenly realized they were empty and dived to pick up the mop. “I just- Let me finish here! Wow, Lio! You look great!”

As Galo started mopping in double time, Lio turned to Aina and Lucia and mouthed ‘thank you’.

Lucia gave Lio a thumbs up. 

Aina leaned closer to her friend and muttered, “I hate that he looks better in it than me.”

Snickering, Lucia patted Aina’s shoulder.

“Okay, I’m ready.” Galo offered his arm to Lio. With only a slight hesitation, Lio hooked his hands into the crook of Galo’s elbow. “See you tomorrow, ladies!”

“Good night, Galo. Good luck!” Lucia waved vigorously as they left the store.

“You look amazing, Lio.” Galo leaned closer to say once they were out on the street. “I mean it.”

I know I do, Lio wanted to preen. But instead, he settled for, “Thanks. You look pretty nice yourself.”

Galo laughed. He wore his usual jeans, red hoodie and pea coat combo. The only thing that seemed to change was the t-shirt under the hoodie. It did look attractive on him though. 

Lio followed Galo to a parking garage a block away from the store. A lot of the employees (or partners, as head office insisted on calling them) bused or biked into work, since parking was expensive, but Aina and Galo drove. Lio knew this, but he did not expect Galo to lead him to the black motorcycle parked in the garage.

“This is yours?” Lio asked, trying to play it cool, but this motorcycle was nearly the coolest thing he had ever seen in his entire life.

“My pride and joy.” Galo puffed his chest out, obviously pleased with Lio’s reaction. “I’ve been fixing her up.”

“Please tell me this is how we’re getting to this secret location of yours.” Lio walked around the bike, admiring it from all angles.

“Of course.”

Lio was too busy checking out the motorcycle to notice exactly where Galo retrieved the helmets from, but he passed one to Lio. “Safety first. I’m not sure which of your roommates would kill me more if you got hurt. Maybe one would kill me and then I’d come back as a ghost and the other would double kill me.”

“Can I drive it? Can I do donuts with it?” Lio itched to have a go with the motorcycle.

“Not tonight. Tonight, I have plans!” 

Galo made sure that Lio had the helmet fastened on tight before helping him onto the back seat of the motorcycle. He felt a bit like a princess being assisted into a carriage, only much, much cooler. After affixing his own helmet, Galo swung himself into the driver’s position.

“Hold on, okay?” Galo said over his shoulder.

Lio did not need to be told twice. A small thrill passed through him as he wrapped his arms around Galo’s waist and pressed himself against the taller man’s back. Galo reached down to lightly squeeze Lio’s hand before bringing the engine to life. With a roar that echoed throughout the parking garage, the motorcycle took off.

As late as it was, the streets were nearly empty. Galo drove them out of Central Promepolis and headed north, obeying all traffic signals no matter how much Lio mentally urged him to go faster, faster, faster. He couldn’t guess where they were headed either until Lio saw the retro neon lit sign as Galo pulled into the parking lot. Northern Lights Skating Rink.

Lio slid off the bike, absently unfastening his the helmet and handing it to Galo. 

“It’s a night skate! They do this thing where they keep the ice rink open late and-”

“I know.” Lio answered quietly, his eyes locked on the retro futuristic design of the skating rink building.

“Is this okay? I thought you’d like it.” Galo sounded suddenly uncertain.

Lio let out a short laugh and turned to Galo. “This is better than okay. Which one of them was it that snitched on me?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Galo feigned innocence.

“Please. I’m a gay kid from Michigan. I was very into figure skating.” He offered his hand to Galo. “And one of my roommates talked.”

“Gueira. I asked him for first date ideas.” Galo admitted sheepishly as he took Lio’s hand.

“I thought you said this wasn’t a date.”

“You look so nice, I changed my mind. This is definitely a date.” Galo beamed as he pulled Lio toward the ice skating rink. 

—————————

The ice was nearly empty at this time of night, populated mostly by couples holding hands while they skated in slow circles around the ice and a few groups trying to get instagram photos of themselves. Christmas music played from the overhead speakers and the rink had been completed decked out in lights. There was something reassuring about the sound of skates on ice, Lio thought as he took his rented skates over to a bench.

“I haven’t done this in a while, so I’m probably a little rusty.” Lio admitted while he tightened the laces on his skates and tied them. 

“That’s okay. I’ve never done this before!” Galo hopped to his feet and wobbled his way out to the ice. “But I watched lots of youtube videos last night!”

“Galo.” Lio hurried over as he watched Galo tentatively step out onto the ice. “Bend your knees a little, it’ll help you keep your balance.” Lio glided out onto the ice to stand next to Galo. “Put your arms out like this and then watch my feet.”

Galo pushed off from the wall, copying Lio’s movements. “Hey! Hey, hey! I’m doing it!”

Together, they slowly went around the rink until Lio was certain that Galo could remain relatively upright and knew how to get back up if he fell. Once Galo was stable, Lio couldn’t help showing off a bit. Even the simplest moves impressed Galo - a basic spin, a simple bunny hop, even just skating backwards. Whenever Lio glanced back at Galo, he seemed unable to take his eyes off Lio.

Once he was breathless, Lio returned to Galo. “What do you think?”

“That was awesome!” Galo responded, bright eyed. “I didn’t know you could do any of that. You’re full of surprises.”

“That wasn’t much.”

Galo held his hand out. “Skate and hold my hand. See if you can keep up with me.”

Lio smiled. “Okay.”

“I didn’t know you were from Michigan.” Galo commented as they went around the ice.

“Oh. Yeah.” Lio shrugged.

“I’ve never been. Is it nice?”

“Gets cold in winter.” Lio didn’t feel like elaborating.

“I’m Promepolis born and raised!” Galo declared loudly. 

“Represent!” someone shouted in response to Galo’s announcement.

“You really like it here, huh?” Lio lightly nudged Galo with his shoulder.

“It’s only the best city in the whole world.” Galo smiled down at Lio. 

Lio replied flatly. “It’s decent.”

“Decent? Decent?!” Galo asked in mock offense. “I’ll have you know, Promepolis is only home to the best pizza in the universe! Inferno Volcano Margherita Megamax!”

“What makes it an inferno?”

“It’s something in the sauce, I think.” Galo winked at Lio. “And it’s vegetarian.”

Lio’s face started to heat up at the wink and he looked away. “You’ll have to take me there next time.”

“Next time?” Lio could hear the excitement in Galo’s voice.

“I’m thinking about it.” Lio gave Galo a slight smile before released Galo’s hand and skated away.

—————————

“Hot chocolate. Just what the doctor ordered after ice skating.” Galo delivered the cup straight into Lio’s hands. No marshmallows for Lio, but Galo had a sprinkling of mini marshmallows in his own cup.

“Thank you.” Lio sighed gratefully. He sipped it. “It’s perfect.”

Galo plopped down next Lio on the bench, stretching his legs out. Their thighs were touching, but Lio tried not to think too hard about that. They were in a perfect little nook in the skating rink, twinkling Christmas lights draped down the wall.

“Galo.” Lio straightened up and hooked his finger into the front of Galo’s t-shirt.

“Lio?” Galo’s eyes went wide, but he didn’t resist as Lio pulled him closer.

Pulling out his phone, Lio held it up and set it selfie mode. “Lean closer.”

“Oh-oh… I thought you were-” Galo he let out his breath as Lio fixed up his hair. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

“Do you want to be in this picture with me or not?”

Fluffing up his own hair, Galo leaned closer. “Of course I do!”

“Ready?”

Grinning, Galo nodded. “Cheese!”

Lio snapped a few pictures with his phone then flipped through them. He felt a strange warmth in his chest, seeing the two of them together. Kind of like boyfriends. “You look goofy flashing a peace sign like that.”

“We look cute!” Galo looked over Lio’s shoulder. “And I’ll have you know, I’m an ally of peace and justice, Lio.”

“Give me your phone number and I’ll text this to you.” Lio kept his voice casual.

“Lio Fotia.” Galo leaned closer. “Are you trying to get my digits?”

“Is that a problem?” Lio looked up at Galo.

“Not at all. I was just waiting for you to ask! Here, I’ll put it in for you.” Galo held his hand out and, after a moment, Lio passed him his phone.

Galo tapped dutifully away, keeping the phone so that Lio couldn’t see the screen.

“What are you putting in there? That’s way too many letters for Galo.” 

“You’ll see, hold on.”

Lio lunged for his phone, but Galo turned away from Lio, laughing. “I can’t type like this!”

“Your stupid long arms. You’re putting something stupid in there! Galo!”

“My masterpiece is complete.” Galo turned to face Lio and handed his phone back.

“Idiot.” Lio took his phone and bopped Galo on the top of the head with it. It had taken him all that time to write ‘World’s #1 Boyfriend and Firefighter Galo Thymos’ into Lio’s contacts.

“You’re changing it?” Galo asked.

Lio held up his phone. “Now it just says World’s #1 Idiot.”

“Just like my mug.” Galo mused.

After a few more taps on his phone, Lio sent the picture to Galo. “Hey, Galo…”

“I’m going to set this as my wallpaper.” Galo happily pulled out his own phone.

“Galo.”

Galo stopped, noting the serious tone in Lio’s voice.

“Are you sure about this? This dating me thing?” Lio turned his phone over in his hands for something to do. “I’m kind of… a lot.”

“Hey! I’m a lot too!” Galo put an arm around Lio. “We can be a lot together.”

“Be serious. I need to know that you’re actually listening to me.” Lio shrugged out of Galo’s arm.

“I am being serious. I am!” Galo protested when Lio glared at him. “I think you’re great. Why wouldn’t I want to date you?”

Lio’s frown deepened. Galo insisted on believing that Lio was a good person.

“You’re a lot, but me… I want to be friend with everyone, even if they don’t want to be friends with me. I remember that first night, I just wanted to talk to you really badly. You were really cool and a little intimidating and Aina warned me I should probably just leave you alone.” Galo voiced all this in a rush. “I’m glad I did though.”

Lio thought back to all those weeks ago. “You were pretty insistent.”

“I’ve been a little smitten since then.” Galo admitted with a bashful smile. 

“How? You hardly knew me.”

Galo scratched at the side of his head. “You laughed at my moon joke. And I thought ‘WHOA!’—” Galo made a motion as if it his heart had exploded “— ‘He’s got the best smile!’”

Lio felt his face start to heat up. Why did Galo have this affect on him?

“You know, you have a lot of nice smiles.” Galo leaned closer, his voice getting softer. “Like when you’re laughing because I made a great joke. Or when you’re teasing me and your smile turns a little mean. I’m pretty into that.” Closer, Galo slid closer. “Sometimes, you have this smile that’s a little shy, like you don’t use it that much. That’s my favorite.”

Fuck. He’s trying to kiss me. Lio shoved his hand up into Galo’s face, halting the forward motion. “That’s incredibly saccharine. And you’re a flirt.”

Galo laughed, sitting up straight again. If he minded that Lio unequivocally turned him down, he gave no indication as Galo answered in his usual cheerful tone. “I’m the flirt? You’re a flirt. You were out there sexy dancing on the ice.”

“That wasn’t sexy dancing.” Lio didn’t know if he could turn any redder. Maybe it had been a little sexy.

“You’re cute when you blush too.” 

You’ve been doing this on purpose, you jerk! Lio took a drink of his hot chocolate so he wouldn’t have to say anything.

“I’m a little too straightforward sometimes.” Galo leaned back on the bench. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Lio said into his cup.

Galo sighed. “I’m not good with this emotions thing… I just want the people around me to be happy!” He perked up, the passion returning to his voice. “And I want you to be happy! Because you’re great. So yeah, I’m sure about this dating thing! I’m super sure about this!”

“Okay, okay. You convinced me.” Lio relented, smiling a little. “You’re an idiot.”

Galo grinned as he took a drink of his hot chocolate. “Hey, want to see a cat video?”

“Okay.” Lio slid a little closer to Galo so he could see his phone.

When Galo held his phone up, Lio saw that he really had set the selfie as his phone wallpaper. He started a video and Lio clearly recognized the voice of the person holding the camera. “Smoky, Smoky. Hi, boy!” Galo said as Smoky munched on treats out of Galo’s hand.

“We’re kind of friends now.” Galo whispered.

As soon as Galo reached for Smoky, he darted back into the alley. “Aw, Smoky…” Galo said before the video ended.

“Progress!” Galo declared.

“Have you been going out by yourself to make friends with Smoky?” Lio asked.

“Yeah.” Galo admitted. “I feel bad for him. It’s cold outside and he doesn’t have a home. No one should be alone at the holidays.”

“He’s a cat. I don’t think he knows it’s Christmas.”

“Why can’t you take him home?” Galo asked. 

Lio felt a small bit of guilt. “There’s no pets allowed in my building.”

“You’re going to let a little thing like that stop you? I thought you were a delinquent!”

“And Gueira’s really allergic.” Lio admitted with a shrug. “I take care of him as best I can.”

“Oh.” Galo tapped his chin as he thought about something. 

Lio looked down into his now empty hot chocolate cup. “You want to go back out? I’ll let you hold my hand.”

Galo’s expression brightened. “Yeah! Hell yeah!” He downed what remained of his hot chocolate before offering his hand to Lio. “Let’s go!”

—————————

Lio told Galo to drop him off a block away from his apartment building. Craning his head around, Galo looked at the neighborhood. “This is… interesting.”

“You’re being charitable.” Lio kept his arms around Galo. “You sure you won’t let me take her for a ride?”

“My bike?” Galo twisted around in his seat to face Lio. “That’s more like a fifth or sixth date thing. Guess you’ll have to keep seeing me, huh?”

“Guess I will.” Lio darted forward to kiss Galo lightly on the lips. “Uh, thanks. For tonight. I had a nice time.”

Before Galo could say anything, Lio slid down from the motorcycle. Immediately, he missed the warmth of Galo’s body next to his. That alone scared him a little.

“I had a nice night too. I hope we can do this again.”

“Me too.” Lio agreed with a nod. 

Slowly, Lio backed away, then turned and hurried toward his building. When he reached the building door, he saw Galo still watching him, making sure he got home safely. Galo waved and Lio held up his hand in return. He made it through the front door before running up the stairs to his unit two at a time.

Lio let himself into the apartment quietly, but as soon as the door shut, he leaned against, feeling weak in the knees. He couldn’t stop smiling. He wanted to scream, but in a good way.

“How was your date?” Gueira asked from the living room. Lio felt all the happiness drain out of him.

Meis and Gueira both sat on the couch, watching a cooking competition together. They’d both been waiting up for him, which was stupid because he was a grown up and could take care of himself.

“How were you giving dating advice to Galo?” Lio demanded, standing over the couch. Meis leaned to the side so he could continue watching the television uninterrupted.

Gueira grinned. “Oh, you know. He gave me his phone number when we were shopping together.”

Which meant Gueira had been in possession of Galo’s phone number longer than Lio had. “And why did you do that?”

“I just wanted to know that I could track him down and murder him if he ever broke your heart.” Gueira replied off handedly. “He seemed pretty okay with it.”

Immediately, Lio grabbed Gueira in a headlock. “Did you say that to him? Did you?”

“I had to make sure his intentions were pure!” Gueira’s voice came out partly strangled.

“His intentions?!” Lio tightened his grip.

“Mercy, mercy!” Gueira tried to tap out. “Babe, help!”

Meis watched them calmly. “Dude, I told you not to meddle.”

“Traitor.” Gueira muttered before going limp with a dramatic ‘bleh’ noise.

“I guess you’ll see him in the afterlife.” Lio released Gueira who flopped like a ragdoll back onto the couch.

“How will I ever carry on without him?” Meis asked flatly.

Gueira opened one eye. “At least pretend to be sad that I’m dead.”

“Scoot.” Lio motioned before he wedged himself down between his roommates on the couch.

“Can’t you sit straight in a chair like a normal human being?” Gueira asked as he sat up a bit to make room for Lio.

“I am not straight and I refuse.”

After a moment, Meis asked. “How was your date?”

Just thinking about it, Lio felt a warmth bloom in his chest. “It was good. It was really good. He took me skating and we had hot chocolate and…” Lio sighed contentedly.

“Twitterpated.” Gueira whispered over Lio’s head as if he couldn’t hear.

Lio elbowed Gueira in the side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Galolio, here I go again  
> My my, how can I resist you?  
> Galolio, now I really know  
> My my, I could never let you go
> 
> (to the tune of mamma mia) This is what I think whenever I see the ship name and if I have to suffer then you do too.
> 
> This chapter ended up way longer than I had initially intended. There was just too much stuff I wanted to fit in and I needed to get in all the first date awkwardness and cuteness.
> 
> I know nothing about figure skating other than watching it on tv every once in a while. I did watch some youtube videos though! 
> 
> Also: Special thanks to my pal K for giving me feedback on these chapters and translating some stuff for me. You are a true champion!
> 
> Next time: Will Galo let Lio do donuts on his motorcycle? Will it ever really be Christmas?


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas time is here!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw for some drinking and a lot of colorful language (while drinking) in this one. See the end notes for a more complete description.
> 
> I really wanted to get this one done before Christmas, but I just couldn’t manage it. But at least I finished before New Year’s! This chapter is twice as long as the next longest chapter. TT__TT Please enjoy this really long, and slightly delayed, culmination of Christmas retail hell.

Galo played with the bell at the end of Lio’s so-called holiday spirit hat. Aina had forced him to wear it — or else. She was stressed out enough with the last shift before Christmas that Lio hadn’t want to press the matter and find out what ‘or else’ meant.

“So… what are you doing tonight?” Galo asked as he batted the bell between his hands.

“I’m going out with Meis and Gueira.” Lio answered. “It’s our Christmas Eve tradition.”

“Ooh, a tradition. Tell me more.” Galo leaned forward onto the counter and made chin-hands while looking up at Lio.

“You’re especially energetic today.”

“I can’t help it! It’s almost Christmas!” Galo batted his eyelashes at Lio. “But tell me more about this Christmas Eve tradition, Lio.”

“We’re going out to play river golf.” Lio struggled to find the right words to describe river golf without making it sound as pointless as it actually was. “We hit golf balls into a river. It’s… stupid.”

“Is it part of your delinquent ways?” Galo teased.

Lio considered his response. The tradition had started off as car golf where they used to hit golf balls off a roof into a crowded parking lot to try and set off car alarms, a game which was coincidentally best played on Christmas Eve. River golf was less destructive at least. “No.”

Galo laughed. “You had to actually think about that?” 

“Galo! Lio! For the love of Santa and all that is Christmas, stop flirting!” Aina snapped at them.

“Sure thing, Aina!” Galo immediately bounced upright. He shook the bell on Lio’s hat one final time — which caused it to fly off into the air, bounced off Lucia’s head and into the drink she was in the middle of making.

“Galo!” Lucia shouted.

Lio hid his laughter behind his hand.

“Sorry, sorry!” Galo reached for the cup in Lucia’s hand, but she shooed him away.

“Just go manage the till. You’re a pest!” She upturned the cup into sink. “Did you want your bell back, Lio?”

“No.” He didn’t need a coffee covered bell.

Christmas Eve last minute shoppers were absolutely worse than Black Friday shoppers. Frantic customers turned irritable if they had to wait even a second for their coffee, children screamed while parents threatened them that Santa wouldn’t come tonight and Galo bounced through all of it like a hyperactive labrador retriever. His energy levels were unusually high, even for him, and this was saying something considering Lio had once seen Galo perform an entire lip synch to coffee house version of ‘Santa Baby’ while mopping. 

Lio’s day did not go smoothly. After his fourth or fifth remake of the shift, Lio wanted to kick something. He hated dealing with people as a general rule, but none of this was his fault and people kept yelling at him. It was Galo’s fault — he kept handing Lio the wrong orders. Occasionally, Lio would glare in Galo’s direction but he would only smile obliviously back at him.

When Aina told Galo to take his ten, Lio gave him a moment or two before following him back so he could yell at him. He kicked the back door open and saw Galo jump as if he’d been caught doing something wrong. His back was to Lio, hunched over the break room table as if using it to brace himself.

“Galo?” Lio asked.

Galo reached up and wiped his face with the sleeve of his sweater. Had he been crying? But when Galo turned to Lio, his smile was bright as always. “Lio! I wasn’t expecting you! Wow, is my break over already?” He laughed loudly, but it sounded fake in Lio’s ears.

Lio narrowed his eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Nothing is wrong! Why would you think something is wrong?!” Galo answered too quickly.

“You keep messing up orders. I can tell you’re forcing yourself.”

“It’s nothing. Nothing you need to worry about anyway, Lio!” Galo marched for the door, but Lio slammed his hand into the wall, blocking Galo’s line of escape with his arm.

“Don’t you dare tell me not to worry. Do you think I don’t care about you?” Lio glared up at him.

Galo’s voice came out as a small whisper. “I never thought this would happen to me.”

“What?”

“Kabedon.”

“Are you being serious?!” Lio shouted.

Lucia choose that moment to make her way into the back room. She took one look at Galo and Lio, opened her eyes wide, turned around and left without saying a word.

The interruption broke the tension between them. Galo let out a long sigh and leaned back against the wall, staring up at the ceiling. “It’s just… this is my first Christmas since my gran… passed…”

“Oh.” Lio dropped his arm.

“It’s been harder than I thought.” He blinked a few times, keeping his focus on the ceiling. “As long as I don’t think about it too much, I’m okay.”

Lio stared down at boots. He didn’t know what to say, so he slipped his hands into Galo’s larger ones.

“She was great.” Galo squeezed Lio’s hands gratefully. “She raised me after my parents died, you know. …I just miss her a lot.”

“It’s okay to be sad…” Lio said softly. He hadn’t known Galo had lost his parents or his grandmother. Galo was usually so upbeat, Lio had a hard time imagining that anything bad had ever happened to him.

“Lio! If you don’t get back out front right this instant, I will put you on till!” Aina pushed the door open and shouted into the back.

“Aina is going to explode.” Galo grimaced.

“Sorry.” Lio extracted his hands from Galo’s and gave him an apologetic look.

Galo shook his head. “Go on. I’ll be okay.”

Lio hesitated. 

“Lio!!” Aina’s temper sounded shorter by the moment.

“Sorry.” Lio repeated before leaving Galo alone in the break room.

True to her threat, Aina put Lio on register when he came back out front. He turned to face the next guest, determined that he would stay here even after Galo’s break was over so that Galo wouldn’t have to balance dealing with customers and his personal loss. Lio switched into customer service mode. He could do this.

“Hi, welcome to Promepolis Coffee Company.” Lio smiled brightly.

Every single one of his coworkers stared at Lio as if they were witnessing one of the signs of the apocalypse.

—————————

“I’m exhausted…” Lio complained as he stumbled out of the store with Galo. “I don’t know how you do that all the time.”

Lucia waved good night to the two of them, muttering ‘kabedon’ under her breath and snickering. She’d been doing that off and on all day. Lio didn’t know what a kabedon was and he was afraid to ask.

“Your customer service face is kind of scary.” Galo admitted after he waved back to Lucia. “I could tell your soul was dying and slowly leaving your body the whole time.”

“Never let me do that again.”

“Well, I am going back to my own store in another week or so, but I’ll keep you safe from the register until then.” Galo gave a lopsided, regretful smile.

Oh. Yeah. Lio had forgotten about that.

“Come here.” Galo held his hand out to Lio. Lio took it and Galo pulled him in for a hug, folding his arms around Lio. Instinctively, Lio tensed and wanted to push away, but after the moment passed, he relaxed into Galo’s embrace. He slid his arms around Galo’s waist, under his pea coat where it was warmest.

“I needed this.” Galo murmured into Lio’s hair. “Thanks for checking on me earlier.”

“Yeah. Of course.”

Meis’ car horn interrupted them. “Galo! Give us the boss back!” Gueira shouted out the car window, drumming on the side of the car in excitement.

Galo released Lio reluctantly. He really needed new roommates. “Have a good Christmas, Lio.”

“Yeah.” Lio couldn’t wish Galo the same knowing that he’d be missing his family.

“See you on the 26th!” Galo’s smile was so brilliant, it broke Lio’s heart.

Lio walked slowly out to the car. “See you.”

As soon as he took over the back seat, Gueira turned to Lio. “You ready for the greatest Christmas tradition ever invented?”

Lio gave one backward glance at Galo before responding. “River golfing?”

“River fucking golfing!” Meis and Gueira returned in unison.

—————————

“An’ the thing is— he’s really hot!” Lio swayed a little as he spoke. The world spun around him, but he felt pretty good right now. 

“Uh-huh. He’s hot.” Gueira smiled at Lio as he spoke, one arm around Meis. It was kind of annoying how it looked like he knew something Lio didn’t. “You’ve said that, what, four times now?”

The three of them stood on a pedestrian walkway which ran under one of the many bridges that crossed Parnassus River. The night was drizzly, but there was enough overhang that they could stay out of the weather. It had a metal bench, so people could sit and stare out over the river, but with a divider in the center so homeless people couldn’t sleep on it. Currently, one of the seats of the bench was taken up with a small cooler and a bucket of golf balls. 

Lio pointed down the river. “I’m gonna hit that seagull.”

“Don’t hit the seagull.” Meis laughed.

Lio lined up a shot and swung the golf club. He didn’t have much in the way of technique, but he knew how to hit things with a golf club. The ball sailed over the railing at the edge of the bridge and landed in the river with a plop, scaring the seagull into taking flight.

“He’s got a motorcycle, did I tell you that?” Lio steadied himself with the golf club.

“You might have mentioned it.” Gueira laughed into Meis’ shoulder. “Come on, it’s my turn, boss.”

Lio tossed the golf club over to Gueira who caught it easily. “It’s pretty fuckin’ cool. He wouldn’ let me drive it though, you know?”

“Did you tell him that you don’t have a driver’s license?” Gueira asked.

“No! He jus’ said that was like a five date thing. I’m showing up on date five!” Lio smacked one hand into his other to emphasize his point. “An’ I’m making him show me how to do a donut on his motorcycle!”

Meis took Lio by the shoulders and steered him away from where Guiera who gave the club a few practice swings. “How many beers have you had?”

“Jus’ one.”

Meis looked skeptical.

“Or three. I don’ remember.”

“Fuck, boss. You cannot hold your alcohol.”

Gueira laughed. “I dunno! He’s pretty funny like this!”

“I walked in on him changing in the break room and — aaah!” Lio imitated angels singing. “It was like time slowed down and I could see every rippling muscle on his entire torso.” Lio continued, undeterred, even though he was finding it difficult to clearly pronounce anything. “God, he’s got abs. He’s super fuckin’ hot!”

Gueira took a swing and the golf ball sailed through the air and landed in the river. “Fuck, yes! Nice shot!”

“Nice one, babe.”

“But the other thing is that he’s so goddamn wholesome!” Lio exclaimed. He retrieved his beer from where he’d left it and took a swig. “He misses his family because it’s the holidays. I’m out here getting drunk and hitting golf balls into a river with you two assholes. On Christmas Eve!”

“Hey, hey, hey, this was your idea.” Meis accepted the golf club as Guiera handed it off to him. “And we’re not just any assholes, we’re your best assholes.”

“It’s tradition! We hafto!” Lio gestured with his drink. Then a thought occurred to him. “Fuuuck. He wanted to know what I was doing tonight! I think he was trying to ask me out for our pizza date.”

Guiera snorted. “Pizza date? Pizza date! Fuckin’ wholesome!”

“Fuck!” Lio kicked the railing on the edge of the walkway. “Fuck! I totally blew him off! What if he= thinks I hate him or something?”

Meis tossed a golf ball up into the air and caught it. “You just have to be the one to ask him out on the pizza date next time.”

“You—” Lio pointed at Meis “—are a genius! An’ a gentleman!”

“Pfft. Meis is not a gentleman.” Gueira laughed.

“Fuck off. I am a complete gentleman.” Meis flipped off his boyfriend.

“An’ he’s a fireman!” Lio leaned back against the railing to take another drink.

“Okay, I am not a fireman.” Meis set the golf ball down onto the pavement.

“No, no, no. Galo! Galo’s a fireman! In training or something.” Lio sighed loudly and looked up at sky, which was dark with heavy clouds. The cold railing dug into his back. “Tol’ you he’s too wholesome.”

“Boss, if you fall into that river, I am not going in after you.” Gueira warned.

Lio snapped back. “You would so.”

“Yeah, but then we’d both drown! I am not sober enough to play lifeguard!”

“Bet he could probally bench press me.” Lio pondered wistfully. He leaned a little further back, trying to see if there were any stars in the sky.

“Oh my god! Boss! Stop talking about Galo!” Gueira laughed as he pulled Lio away from the railing. “We get it. He’s hot and you want him to bone you.”

Meis swung the golf club. The ball struck the railing with a clang and Meis dodged out of the way to avoid the ball as it rebounded back at him. All three of them laughed as the ball splashed into the river behind them.

“Holy shit.” Meis straightened up, catching his breath. “Babe, Galo is a bottom if I ever saw one. The boss will be the one pounding his ass.”

Gueira snorted and ugly-laughed into his sleeve. “Fuck! You’re so fuckin’ right!”

“We haven’ even really kissed yet!” Lio handed his beer to Gueira irritably and grabbed the golf club from Meis. “I’m not thinkin’ about—” Even drunk, Lio couldn’t get himself to say ‘sex’ out loud. “I’m not thinkin’ about it! Yet!”

Gueira and Meis thought this pronouncement hilarious. Lio glared at them while they laughed. Wrapping an arm around Lio’s shoulders, Gueira announced, “My sweet, innocent boss!”

“I am not!” Lio protested hotly. Gueira smelled distinctly of alcohol. “Don’t think I won’t drop kick you into the river!”

In response, Gueira squeezed Lio tighter and kissed the top of his head before letting go. Stupid soppy drunk.

“How many dates is it going to take before you are thinking about it?” Meis teased.

“He has to at leas’ let me drive his motorcycle firs’.” Lio held his hand out. “I need a ball!”

“Poor guy is going to think you’re just dating him for his motorcycle.” Meis handed Lio a golf ball.

“Boss says he’ll put out for a motorcycle! I’m gonna get a bike and make it bigger than Galo’s!” Gueira took a sip of Lio’s beer.

“Hey! That’s mine.”

“You handed it to me.” Gueira took a bigger drink to prove his point.

Lio had to use the golf club to steady himself when he set down ball and got back to his feet. He tried to line up a shot, but everything was really spinning now. Fuck it. Lio swung the golf club, missed the ball entirely, and just ended up overbalancing and falling down onto one knee.

“Okay.” Meis hooked his arms under Lio’s arms and hauled him back up to his feet. He guided Lio over to the bench and pushed him to sit down in the empty seat. “Time for you to chill here for a bit and drink this.” He handed Lio a water bottle out of the cooler.

“’m not that drunk.” Pouting, Lio took the water bottle and untwisted the cap.

Meis patted the top of Lio’s head. “I do not want to see the three stages of drunk boss tonight. Be good and maybe Santa will bring you a present tonight.”

“Santa only ever brings me coal.” Lio muttered as he took a drink of water.

“Hey! Is it my turn?!” Gueira shouted. “Baby, come be impressed by me!”

Lio watched Meis and Gueira take turns passing the golf club back and forth between them as they whacked golf balls into the Parnassus River. Sometimes they kissed at the pass off and sometimes they didn’t. Before long, Lio started to feel sleepy. He wanted to lay down on the bench, but it had that raised section in the middle and he couldn’t get comfortable. The world was truly a cruel place.

River golf ended when Gueira took a swing with the golf club and accidentally pitched it over the railing and into the river itself.

“Shit.” Gueira stared over the railing into the waters below.

“Pendejo.” Meis said fondly, patting Gueira’s back.

“No, you.”

The two of them ended up wrestling each other, like they had in the old days, until Gueira pinned Meis up against the railing and he admitted defeat. Apparently this meant the loser had to kiss the victor, so Lio pulled his hood up and down over his eyes. He was not drunk enough to want to watch his roommates make out.

“Dude, how are we getting home from here?” Gueira asked as he staggered over to the bench.

“Same way we got here. We walk.” Lio got to his feet and almost immediately regretted it when the world lurched violently.

“You can hardly walk, you damn lightweight. Ride share?” Gueira suggested.

“No.” Lio steadied himself against the bench. “It’s too fuckin’ expensive.”

Gueira pulled out his phone, frowned, then smiled wickedly. “What if I just call Galo? He has a car! He can come pick us up!”

“No!” Lio dove for Gueira’s phone. “You can’ blackmail me to spend money we don’ have!” 

“I’ll do it!” Gueira held the phone out of arm’s reach. Fuck everyone taller than him!

“Gueira, I’ll murder you, I swear!”

“Shit, I accidentally—!” Gueira nearly dropped the phone when he heard a voice on the other end. “Hey, Galo! Happy Christmas Eve to you too!”

Lio waited as Galo spoke over the phone and Gueira listened. “Oh yeah! The boss is here. You see, we’re all kinda drunk an’ we need a ride—”

Instantly, Lio lashed out, hooking his foot behind Gueira’s knee and pulling his footing out from under him. When Gueira went down, Lio didn’t have the balance to stay upright and he fell as well, landing on top of the other man. Both of them went for the phone at the same time, but Lio got there first.

“Galo. Hi, cutie.” No, nope. Don’t say that again.

“Cutie? Lio…? Are you okay? I just heard some noise.” Galo sounded concerned on the other end of his line.

“I’m fine.” Lio felt suddenly acutely aware of how badly he was slurring his words. “Gueira is jus’ trying to cause trouble an’ he needs to be punished.”

“Please, boss. Don’t put it like that!” Gueira whined underneath him. “I’m kinda horny and you’re killing me.”

“Divine punishmen’.” Lio sat up.

“Are you drunk? For real?” Galo asked. His voice was thick and a bit off sounding as well.

“Sorry. This is—” Taking his time, Lio stood up. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah…” Galo replied without any heart. It didn’t sound like him at all.

Lio ran a hand partway through his hair, holding his bangs out of his face. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what this sounded like to Galo and he didn’t know what to say at all. “Th’ holidays… are cruel…”

“I think they’re okay.” Galo answered and Lio detected the falsehood of the cheer in his voice.

“It’s stupid. Every song I’ve had to listen to in that shit store all month says how you gotta go home for Christmas! But I can’t! I don’t even want to see them, but I can’t!” Lio felt tears sting the corners of his eyes, overcome with the unfairness of the holidays. “An’ I don’t even have a tree!”

“Lio, are you crying?” Galo asked.

“No! I mean, I just do this when I get drunk!” He sniffled. He hadn’t meant to mention his family, hadn’t meant to mention any of it. “I have to call a ride share. I’ll text you when we get home.”

“Okay. Get home safe.”

Lio wiped his eyes. “I really wanna go on our pizza date. So you’d better ask me out soon.”

“I will! Maybe I’ll even take you to the firehouse.” This time, the enthusiasm seemed genuine.

“Okay.” Lio cleared his throat. “Bye.”

“Bye… cutie.”

Oh no.

Lio stared at the phone for a moment before tossing it back to Gueira. “Don’t-” do that again. He stopped himself before finishing the rest of his sentence. That was something his dad would said. “Fuck.”

Gueira looked sufficiently contrite, realizing his joke had gone a little too far. “Well, we should get back home. I’ll carry the cooler.”

“It’ll be faster if I carry you piggyback.” Meis offered.

“’m not that drunk…” Lio protested. When Meis knelt down, Lio clambered onto his back anyway. 

“You’re hardly difficult to carry. You weigh practically nothing.” Meis stated.

“I hate that you’re this… not drunk.” Lio muttered into Meis’ shoulder.

Meis laughed wryly. “My dad’s a musician. It runs in my blood.”

By the time the three of them made it up the stairs to their apartment, Lio had half fallen asleep. He texted Galo to let him know they’d gotten home and climbed into bed, only bothering to pull his boots and jacket off. Vaguely, he was aware of someone coming in to check on him, to make sure he actually made it into the bed, before drifting off to sleep.

—————————

Lio’s head pounded when he woke the next morning. “Merry Christmas,” he croaked to his hangover. To delay actually getting out of bed, Lio checked his phone to find half a dozen text messages all of which were from Galo. Vaguely, Lio wondered if it had been a good idea to let Galo have his phone number after all.

World’s #1 Idiot: Went 4 a run! Found u a tree! (•̀ᴗ•́)و

Which was followed by several photos of trees decorated with lights. 

World’s #1 Idiot: Check out this good boy (ノ*゜▽゜*)

And a picture of Galo crouched next to a golden lab wearing a Santa hat.

Lio rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Galo remembered him being sad about his lack of Christmas tree and the thought gave Lio a little ache in his chest. He wanted to talk to Galo, hear his voice. Stupid, he’d only talked to Galo yesterday.

Lio: Good morning.

The response came surprisingly quickly.

World’s #1 Idiot: Hows ur head did Santa bring u any presents

World’s #1 Idiot: ôヮô

Lio: I’m a little hung over.

World’s #1 Idiot: Lio nooooooo drink sum water!!!! Dr Galos orders

Lio swung his legs out of bed and immediately regretted not actually changing out of his clothes the night before. His pants were still slightly damp from being out in the rain and now he was still slightly damp. 

Lio: I’m going to eat breakfast. Can I call you after?

Among his other regrets, he definitely felt like he needed to call and apologize to Galo for drunk dialing him the night before. 

World’s #1 Idiot: (◍•ᴗ•◍)❤

World’s #1 Idiot: U no it!!! I want 2 hear ur dulset tones!!!!

The excessive use of exclamation marks was very on brand for Galo. Lio would puzzle out the heart emoji later when his head stopped throbbing.

When Lio made it out to the living room, Meis sat on the couch with Gueira’s head in his lap. He was talking on his phone softly in Spanish, which meant he was calling his mom back in Texas, and slowly playing with Gueira’s hair with his free hand. Gueira, for his part, was reading a compilation of Hell Fire Boy comics.

Gueira sat up when he saw Lio in the hall. “There’s breakfast in the kitchen. Drink some water and take some ibuprofen.”

Lio was more than well aware how to take care of a hangover, but Gueira followed him into the kitchen and started making tea. A breakfast casserole of sorts — with sweet potato, spinach and egg — as well as cinnamon rolls from a tin sat on the counter. Where and how exactly Meis learned to cook was one of the greater mysteries of the universe, but Lio was glad that at least one of them could manage it. 

“I’m sorry about accidentally calling your boy.” Gueira handed Lio his apology tea.

“We’ve gone out exactly once, I don’t think that makes him my boy.” Lio accepted the mug.

“Uh-huh. Sure.” Gueira gave him skeptical look. “Is he really a fireman?”

“Yeah. Volunteer at least. He showed me some pictures of the firehouse.”

“That’s hot.” Gueira looked at him expectantly.

Lio stared at him.

“Get it? Because he’s a fireman?” 

“I’m too hungover for puns. Please go away.”

In Lio’s estimation, the only good thing about Christmas was that all three of them had the day off after working hectic schedules in the lead up to the holidays. Gueira insisted on opening presents after Lio had eaten, a feat which took approximately five minutes. Lio gave his roommates their gifts (a red scarf for Meis and a blue scarf for Gueira). Meis and Gueira had pooled their money together and gotten Lio a new pair of boots. He definitely did not ask where they had gotten the boots, because they looked expensive. Gueira and Meis planned to exchange their own gifts separately and got awkward when Lio asked about it.

Afterward, Lio cleaned up the kitchen, took a nap to try to sleep off the rest of his headache and then took a shower. He felt vaguely human after doing his hair and making himself another cup of tea.

By the time he called Galo, it was mid afternoon and the sun had already started its descent toward the horizon. What did one say to the boy you liked when calling him on the phone? “Hi. It’s me.”

“Hey! I’d recognize that voice anywhere.” Galo replied cheerily over the phone. Wherever Galo was, Lio could hear a lot of background noise. “Couldn’t go a whole day without talking to me, huh?”

Lio frowned. Was he actually coming off as that pathetic? “I just wanted to apologize for last night. Gueira thought he was being funny and…” He sighed. “I get sad when I drink. I’m a sad drunk.”

“I kind of figured you’d be more of an angry drunk.” Galo commented, punctuated by the sound of something metallic falling over on his end of the line. Lio wished he was an angry drunk, it would be less embarrassing. “You kind of have this spark!”

“You can just ignore anything that I said.” Especially about his family. “I’m sure it didn’t help.”

“It’s okay to miss your family. Like you told me earlier, it’s okay to be sad.”

Lio chewed his lip. He knew Galo was trying to help, but it just made him feel like a terrible person. “I don’t really miss them.”

Another loud noise, followed by the sound of Galo running. “Oh no, I lost him.”

“What are you doing over there?” Lio asked in confusion. “And who did you lose?”

“Just trying to find Smoky. It’s supposed to start snowing tomorrow. I couldn’t stand the idea of him out here alone in the snow.” Galo sighed, then continued. “Smoky! I’m your friend Galo! Galo Thymos! I’m here to rescue you!”

“Galo…” Lio laughed a little. “Are you just chasing a cat around?”

“Sure! That seemed the best and most direct way to do it!” There was a thud. “Oof. Um. So yeah, I can take him home with me tonight and schedule an appointment with a vet tomorrow.”

“How long have you been out there?” Lio leaned back against the wall, twirling a bit of his hair around his finger. Galo was stupid and sweet, trying so hard to catch a cat that clearly didn’t want to be caught and didn’t even seem to like him that much.

“Um, a couple hours, maybe, I think.”

“Aren’t you cold?”

“Nah, I got my burning soul to keep me warm! And I have hot chocolate at home for later.” Lio could hear the smile in Galo’s voice.

“Go home, you goof. If you really want to adopt Smoky, I’ll help you catch him this weekend.” He was glad his roommates were not paying any attention to him, as Lio was certain he had a particularly sappy expression on his face.

Galo protested in mock offense. “But, Lio, it’s Christmas. No one should be alone at Christmas!” 

“Oh.” Lio’s heart suddenly sunk. He was an idiot. “Where are you right now? The alley where Smoky usually hangs out?”

“I’m about a block from there. But—”

“Don’t go anywhere.” Lio hung up the phone. He dashed around the house grabbing his jacket, bag, cat treats and pulling on his new boots. “I’m going out!”

“Where—?”

But Lio slammed the door after himself as he ran out of the apartment.

—————————

Lio ran. Smoky’s alley wasn’t far, he could get there within ten minutes. The sidewalks were eerily empty of other pedestrians as he ran, most everyone at home with their families or whatever. There he was. “Galo!”

Looking up when he heard Lio’s voice, Galo waved and smiled. “Lio! Oof!”

Lio collided with him hard enough to knock the wind out of both of them, wrapping his arms around Galo and holding him tight. “You idiot! If you didn’t want to be alone, you should have just said so!”

Galo laughed sheepishly and rested his hand on top of Lio’s head. “Did you run all the way here?”

“Yes!” Lio snapped in annoyance. He pushed himself away from Galo. “What did you think was going to happen?!”

Galo smiled as if he didn’t know what to make of the situation He wore his glasses again and Lio found it hard not stare. “You want to help me catch Smoky?”

“Yeah, just… Let me catch my breath.” 

Galo held up a cat carrier he had set at his feet. “I got this and some other stuff at the pet store last night. I’m all set to be Smoky’s forever home, I think!”

“I brought cat treats, so if he’ll come out, I can grab him.” Lio took a deep breath, but found his body rapidly cooling the December air. When he shifted his weight, he felt a blister at his heel from his new boots. Great.

After a few minutes in which Lio made Galo keep quiet, which was a challenge, Lio set out some treats for Smoky. “He won’t come out unless he feels safe.” Lio whispered.

“Right, right.” Galo nodded at Lio’s advice.

“I’ll try calling him— Ah!” Lio jumped when he felt Galo’s fingers at the back of the neck.

“Your tag was sticking out. Of your t-shirt.” Galo pointed to the back of his own neck to indicate where the tag would have been.

Lio glared and Galo took a step back. 

“Sorry.” He apologized.

“I’ll call him. Don’t poke me again.” Lio took a breath and clicked his tongue a few times. “Smoky? Smoky?”

Pacing up and down the block, Lio called for Smoky few more times before the cat finally answered. Lio crouched down and held food out for the cat. When Smoky came close enough, Lio did something he’s never done before — he scooped Smoky up and held him to his chest.

Smoky reacted immediately, hissing and struggling to get free. He lashed out with one claw, catching Lio right over the eye. Although he recoiled, Lio kept his grip on the cat. Galo was at his side, holding the cat carrier open and Lio stuffed Smoky inside. The carrier door closed and Galo locked it.

“You okay? He nailed you pretty good.” Galo tilted Lio’s chin up so he could get a better look at the scratch on Lio’s face.

Lio swatted his hand away. “It’s not a big deal.”

“Do you uh… want to come back to my place? You can make sure Smoky gets settled in and I’ll patch you up.” Even with one holding a cat carrier with a screaming cat inside, Galo sounded nervous extending the offer.

Lio wasn’t stupid and he knew there was some kind of expectation if he went with another guy to their place. But this was a specific circumstance and Galo had proven he was the kind of guy who wouldn’t push anything Lio didn’t want. If he was honest with himself, Lio didn’t want to leave Galo alone right now either. “Okay.”

Lio hissed as Galo led the way back to where he’d parked, his blister having plenty of time to become painful. The new boots had been a mistake. Smoky meowed mournfully the entire time they walked the few blocks out to Galo’s car. Compared to his motorcycle, the car looked dull and practical. 

“Used to be my gran’s.” Galo explained, noting Lio’s expression. He held the door open for Lio and he took the passenger seat. Galo went around the back of the car, depositing Smoky in the back seat before sitting in the driver’s seat. He handed Lio a napkin out of a cupholder which Lio used to dab away the blood on his forehead.

“You okay?” Galo asked.

“It’s just a scratch.” It hadn’t even bled that much.

“You’ve been limping a little.”

“I gave myself a blister. New boots.” Lio shrugged.

“We’ll get that fixed up too!”

—————————

Lio didn’t know what to expect out of Galo’s home, but it certainly had not been a building lobby with white tile floors, potted plants and an elevator. An elevator! Lio held Smoky’s carrier while the ascended up to the 7th floor. The cat had settled into the occasional disconsolate yowl and stared at Lio as if he was the worst person on the planet.

Galo fumbled at the door for his keys, but smiled when he opened the door. “It’s a little messy.”

The entryway opened up into a open living room with wide windows that let in the last of the winter sunlight. Despite Galo’s words, the place was remarkably clean for a bachelor pad. And it was warm, no turning to the heater to the barest minimum at this unit. The living room alone could have fit Lio’s entire apartment inside. Following Galo’s example, he took off his shoes at the door and his blister immediately thanked him.

“Make yourself at home. I’m going to get Smoky set up in the guest room.” Galo took the carrier from him and retreated up a hallway.

Left to himself, Lio took off his bag and jacket and deposited it on the modern style couch. In fact, most of the furniture looked relatively new and like it might have been taken out of an Ikea catalog. An entire wall in the dining room area was dedicated to old timey photographs of a fire station. On a nearby bookshelf, Lio found a photo of Galo and Aina together in graduation caps and gowns standing next to a much smaller older woman who Lio had to assume was his gran. 

“I almost didn’t put that one out, but it was one of gran’s faves. She was so proud of me for graduating.” Galo explained as he suddenly reappeared next to Lio. “Studying was never my greatest strength so I think she worried I wasn’t going to make it.”

Galo had shed his pea coat and his red hoodie, leaving him with just a t-shirt and the sleeve on his arm. The affect was amazing. 

“It’s supposed to help the scars on my arm heal better.” Galo held his sleeved arm up, misinterpreting Lio’s staring.

Lio made himself look away. “Sorry.”

“I’m used to people asking about it.” Galo seemed genuinely unconcerned about it. The next words came out in a soft tone. “It doesn’t hurt if you touch it. You haven’t hurt me.”

“Oh.” Lio wondered if Galo knew he’d been thinking that exact thing or if he was just used to people asking him that as well.

“Let’s take care of your war wound. Come on.” 

Galo led Lio to the bathroom and withdrew supplies from the medicine cabinet. Lio noted several orange prescription bottles when Galo opened the cabinet. Did his arm really not bother him or was he trying to put on a brave face like he always did? “Do you want fire truck band aids or Vinny band aids?” Galo asked.

“Vinny?” Lio asked, leaning over the counter so he could get a better look at his injury in the mirror. His bangs somewhat obscured the scratch, but it was still fairly obvious.

“Vinny! The mascot for the FDPP!” Galo exclaimed. “You and I are going to have to have a serious talk about how cool firefighting is. You don’t even know Vinny!”

“Didn’t grow up around here.” Lio said by way of explanation.

“Stop looking at yourself in the mirror so I can fix you up.” 

“I am not looking at myself.” Lio muttered as he turned to face Galo.

Gently, Galo disinfected the scratch on Lio’s forehead and applied antibiotic ointment. “There you go, all better now.” Galo said as if assuring a little kid. He held up a box of band aids with a mouse wearing a firehat on the front. “This is Vinny. He’s the FDPP mascot and he’s very cool.”

“I see.” Although Lio did not see. It was a cartoon mouse. “I don’t think I need a band aid.”

“I am in EMT training, I know how to take care of injuries. No matter how minor!”

“Fine.” Lio relented.

“Tada!” Galo announced as he applied the bandage. He steered Lio to sit on the toilet seat. “Now let’s see to that blister.”

“I can handle it!” Lio protested, partly at being manhandled and partly at the implication that he couldn’t take care of himself. He propped his foot up on the toilet seat.

“Let me. Please?” Galo asked, kneeling down in front of Lio. 

His expression was so earnest and he was kneeling right there, Lio found himself unable to speak. He simply nodded his assent for Galo to continue. Galo scooted up the hem of Lio’s pant leg and rolled down Lio’s sock until it was past his heel. 

He’s undressing you! Some dumb animal part of his brain screamed. It’s just a sock, calm down! The more rational part of his brain screamed back.

“The blister doesn’t look like it’s broken yet.” Galo lifted up Lio’s foot to get a better look at his heel. “I’ll just put a band aid on it to cushion it. Okay?”

“Yeah. Fine.” Lio wore layers of clothes like armor between him and the world, him and other people. There was something oddly intimate about this. He remembered teasing Galo about getting flustered over exposed collar bones, but letting Galo touch him made his heart race.

“Good as new.” Galo concluded when he’d applied another Vinny band aid to Lio’s heel. He pulled Lio’s sock back up and looked up at Lio. He grinned. “You’re blushing.”

“I better text my roommates and let them know where I am.” Lio jumped to his feet, nearly knocking Galo over in the process. He left the bathroom as fast as he could without actually running.

From the safety of the living room, Lio texted his roommates to let them know that he was at Galo’s and would be back by dinner.

M: Use protection.

Meis followed this up with a link to a website about the benefits of safe sex. Lio was used to this kind of garbage from Gueira, but Meis? Come on.

“Want the grand tour?” Galo offered as Lio jammed his phone back into his bag in annoyance. 

The tour didn’t take long. In addition to a spacious living room, Galo’s apartment also had a kitchen with modern appliances, an office which contained what Galo referred to as his ‘gaming rig’, a guest room and a bedroom. Galo refused to let Lio see the bedroom, stating it was too messy. Of course, this made Lio very curious about what exactly Galo was hiding, but didn’t push. Sometimes, a guy just needed a little privacy.

Afterward, Galo insisted they check on Smoky before he drove Lio home. It took them a few minutes to locate him, as he’d shoved himself to the deepest depths underneath the guest bed and showed no signs of wanting to come out.

“He hates this.” Galo noted, a hint of sorrow in his voice.

“He’ll get used to it.” Lio knelt down on the floor, staring under the bed. He held his arm out under the bed, thinking Smoky might come rub on his fingers, but the cat only stared at him.

Galo joined him on the floor. “I just want to be your friend, Smoky.”

Lio sat up. “Maybe we should just leave him alone and give him some time to adjust.”

“You’re pretty good with Smoky. You’ll probably have to come over and check on him from time to time.” Galo scooted a bit closer.

“I’m sure you could look most of this up on the internet.” Lio decided to play coy. “You don’t need me.”

Abruptly, Galo pulled Lio closer, holding him almost too tight and balling his fists up in the back of Lio’s hoodie. Galo rested his forehead on the crook of Lio’s neck. When Galo made no motion to advance the embrace, simply stayed like that, Lio rubbed his back in slow circles. 

“Thank you.” Galo said quietly after a while. “For checking up on me.”

Lio re-situated his weight to make himself a little more comfortable. He was almost in Galo’s lap. “I have good timing. That’s all.”

“You’re right. The holidays are cruel.” Galo muttered miserably.

“I was more than a little under the influence when I said that.”

Galo lifted his head from Lio’s shoulder, fixed his glasses. “I want to kiss you so bad right now. Can I?”

Lio ducked his head, suddenly shy. “Yes.”

Galo hooked a finger under Lio’s chin, tilting his face up. He leaned closer, his lips soft and gentle against Lio’s own. When he pulled away, Lio didn’t want it to be over.

“Galo…” Lio spoke without any oxygen in his lungs.

And then he was leaning forward and his lips were on Galo’s and his hands were at the back of Galo’s head and Galo’s tongue was inside his mouth and Galo’s arm were pulling him closer and—

Lio broke the kiss, pushed away. He was breathing too fast. Everything was going too fast.

Galo ran a hand through Lio’s hair. “I should take you home.” He sounded similarly out of breath.

“Yeah.” Lio agreed as he disentangled himself from Galo.

Galo caught Lio’s hand before he could entirely pull away. “I really, really like you.”

Lio kept his gaze fixed on their hands. What he wanted to say was ‘I like you too’, but what he actually said was, “Yeah.”

Galo smiled, understanding maybe, and released Lio. Rising to his feet, Lio rearranged his t-shirt and hoodie.

“Give me a second, I’ll be right out with you.” Galo said from the floor.

Lio didn’t mind having a moment to collect his thoughts out in the living room. When imagined his first real kiss with Galo, he certainly hadn’t picture it with a cartoon mouse band aid plastered to his forehead. He pulled his boots on in the entryway so he couldn’t have second thoughts about leaving. 

“Ha ha, you’re going to murder your roommates later.” Galo came out of the guest room a few minutes later, looking at his phone.

“Why?”

“Gueira’s texted me—” Galo counted “— seven times to tell me exactly which of my body parts he’s going to break or dismember if I touch you or hurt you.”

Lio swore under his breath.

“It’s funny.” Galo sat down on the floor to pull his sneakers on. “They care a lot about you.”

“It’s annoying.”

Galo stood up and pulled his coat down from the hook and pulled it on over his hoodie. “Ready to go?”

“Wait. Can I ask you something?”

“Sure!”

“Um. What’s kabedon?”

Galo smiled like he’d just been given the best Christmas present. He stepped closer to Lio, laughing in a goofy, but vaguely menacing way. “I’ll show you. Stand with your back against the wall.”

“Okay.” Lio did as told.

“Kabe.” Galo pointed at the wall behind Lio. “Don!” He struck the wall on either side of Lio with his hands, an arm on each side of Lio.

“Oh.” This seemed like a lot of fuss about nothing.

“Because the wall is a kabe and the noise is a don!” Galo explained in a way that made no sense. He leaned closer, his voice dropping. “And then I say something like ‘I don’t intend to let you go tonight, Lio Fotia.’”

Lio immediately turned red and knocked Galo’s arm away. “I don’t see what the big deal is! Just drive me home!”

Galo laughed as he grabbed his car keys.

—————————

Lio noted grimly that they crossed over railroad tracks to get back to his apartment building. He literally lived on the wrong side of the tracks. The closer they drove to Lio’s building, the shabbier the neighborhood became turning from modern glass and white structure to crumbled brick and barred windows. “Find somewhere to park.” 

“Of course.” Galo grinned stupidly and Lio knew he was misinterpreting the request. He parked along the street and turned the car engine off. “So, did you want to-”

Lio interrupted. “Before you say anything stupid and make me change my mind, did you want to have dinner with me and my roommates?”

Galo’s eyebrows shot up at the unexpected question. “Really?”

“Meis is making eggplant parmesan. I can really only talk him into it at Christmas. And there’s some chicken thing for him and Gueira.” He watched Galo’s face carefully, hoping that he understood this wasn’t an offer Lio extended lightly. Meis, Gueira and Lio were linked together through shared history — inviting someone else in was practically sacrilege. 

“Are you making anything?” Galo smiled in a soft way.

“Just some spaghetti squash dish… I’m usually the only one that eats it.” Lio shrugged. “More leftovers for me.”

“I want to eat Lio’s cooking.” Galo turned and hopped out of the car. “Come on, slow poke.”

“Don’t leave anything valuable in your car.” Lio warned as he climbed out.

“Aye aye, boss.” Galo locked the doors to the car with his key fob.

“Please don’t you start calling me that.” Lio sighed, then started walking toward the apartment with his hands in his jacket pockets. “Listen, Meis says a lot of dumb shit with a straight face, so don’t believe anything he says. Gueira, he’s just Gueira and he’ll say anything stupid thing he thinks will get me annoyed with him.” 

Galo watched Lio talk. “You like your roommates a lot, huh?”

Lio glared for a moment before continuing. “Just ignore Gueira if he says anything stupid. Or if he says anything about us being boyfriends or something like that.”

“Yeah, of course, I mean, unless—”

“We only went out one time, that doesn’t make us boyfriends, does it? Unless—”

“Unless you wanted to?” Galo asked.

“Yeah, unless.”

Galo’s grin widened and he put his arm around Lio’s shoulders. He had to admit, it was pretty nice walking together like that.

Lio let the two of them into his apartment building. He noted every crack of the lobby walls, the way the tile floor was chipped and the black marks on the ceiling from when someone had tried to set their mailboxes on fire. No one had repainted or cleaned up the smoke stains in the months since that incident. Galo followed him up the creaking stairs to their second story apartment.

“I’m home.” Lio couldn’t kick off his boots like he could his old pair, so he had to stop in the entry and untie them. He braced himself for the inevitable reaction to his announcement. “I brought company.”

From the kitchen, Meis stared at him with complete bewilderment, holding up a knife and a partially sliced up eggplant. Gueira watched Galo with unconcealed annoyance. ‘What is he doing here?’ that glare said.

‘He’s here because I asked.’ Lio glared back.

“Galo Thymos here!” Galo announced loudly, even if all three of them knew his name. “Thank you for inviting me to dinner! I’m honored and touched to be here for your family dinner!”

“You’ve turned into one of those people who can’t do anything without his boyfriend.” Gueira muttered under his breath to Lio.

“Like you’re one to talk.” Lio spat back.

Galo removed his sneakers at the door and looked around the apartment. In comparison to Galo’s place, the apartment was small and none of the furniture was nice or modern like his. With three guys living in such a small place, it was constantly in various states of disaster with clutter all over the place. Lio watched Galo carefully, ready to yell at him if he called it anything stupid like ‘cozy’ or ‘modest’ or anything that people said when they meant small and messy.

“It smells like home in here.” Galo smiled down at Lio. With the scent coming from the kitchen, Lio had to admit some truth to Galo’s words.

“Boss, if you want this to be done at the same time as the chicken, you have to come in here and help.” Meis commented from the kitchen.

“Sure, be right there. Galo, you can put your coat in my room. I’ll show you.”

“Ah ha! Lio’s room!” Galo hurried to follow him. “I wonder what I’ll find in Lio’s room.”

A very short hall led back to the two bedrooms and bathroom. Lio would not think about the state of the bathroom right now. Instead, he opened up the door to his room and gestured inside. “You can just put your stuff on my bed.”

“Lio, there’s nothing in here…” Galo sounded disappointed.

“What were you hoping to find?” Lio asked as Galo removed his coat.

Galo tossed the coat down onto the bed. “I thought you might be secretly into games or- or something. Or at least have a figure skating posters up on the wall.”

“Sorry to disappoint.” Lio suddenly felt as if there were something wrong with his room. “Look, I have a bed and a dresser so it’s not completely empty.”

“Oh, Lio, what’s this?!” Galo cried out in a sing-song tone, pointing at a stuffed tiger on his bed. The fur had gone threadbare in places, and one of the arms had been reattached poorly at some point in the past. Galo made a motion as if to pick it up, but Lio darted forward to grab the tiger first.

Lio clutched the stuffed tiger to his chest. “That’s Mr. Tiger! He’s mine! And he’s fragile so you can’t just pick him up!”

“C-c-c-c-!” Galo’s eyes went wide, his face turning red. “Captain! Cuteness levels have reached lethal percentages! Initiating counter offensive!”

He opened his arms, swooping down on Lio to hug him. Lio stuck his arm out, placing it firmly against Galo’s chest and keeping him at arm’s length. “Who do you think you are to hug the great Lio Fotia so easily?” He pushed Galo lightly in the direction of the door. “Come on, I have to help with dinner. Quit trying to distract me.”

“So you admit it would be distracting. My arms were made to embrace you, Lio!”

“Go away.” Lio pushed him again.

“Mission failed, Captain. The monster is still on the loose. We are regrouping in the living room.” Galo announced as he retreated out of Lio’s room.

Lio placed Mr. Tiger carefully back on his bed before following Galo.

Gueira leered at Galo from in living room. “So, you tried touching Lio’s ‘little tiger’, huh?”

“Say that again to my face!” Lio grabbed Gueira in a headlock.

“Mercy, mercy!”

Meis eyed Lio as he grabbed an apron and tied it around his waist. He himself wore an apron and had his hair pulled back into a low ponytail with a scrunchie, a look which Lio and Gueira jokingly called ‘mom-mode’. “What happened to your face?”

“Got scratched by a cat.” Lio put his hand up to touch the bandaid. “I can probably take this off now.”

“Didn’t know Galo had a cat…” Meis commented.

“Neither did I.” Lio shrugged.

Galo knocked over the roll of paper towels from the counter as he stepped into the kitchen. “What can I do to help?”

After only a few minutes of Galo ‘helping’, Meis banished him to the living room with Gueira. Lio picked up the things that Galo knocked over, but nothing was ruined. Before long, they had dinner out on the table — roast chicken, eggplant parmesan and spaghetti squash with kale and chickpeas. Lio wasn’t sure Meis or Gueira knew what place settings were, they threw enough silverware out on the table and grabbed enough plates for everyone.

“This looks great.” Galo sat next Lio in a folding chair they’d pulled out of the hall closet.

While Meis and Gueira immediately dug into their food, Lio waited and watched Galo for his reaction. 

“This is good!” Galo said of the chicken. 

“This is heaven on a plate!” Galo declared after a bite of the eggplant parmesan.

Lio nodded. “Isn’t it?”

Meis smiled smugly at the compliments but said nothing.

“Lio! Your spaghetti squash is really good!” Galo shoveled it into his face which was an even higher compliment.

“Thanks.” Lio tried not to look too pleased.

In the end, they polished off the entire tray of eggplant parmesan and made a significant dent in the chicken and spaghetti squash. Galo insisted on helping with the dishes while Gueira hooked up the gamecube to the television.

“Whoa! A gamecube!” Galo exclaimed as the start up screen played. “I haven’t seen one of those in forever. That brings back some memories.”

“I found this whole thing and a bunch of games at a thrift store once!” Gueira recounted one of the prouder moments of his life. “We have four controllers and four players for once.”

“Lio!” Galo couldn’t stop laughing at him as Lio drove off a cliff for the millionth time that night. “You’re so bad at this, Lio! My sides hurt from laughing!”

“I just got a star, so eat dirt— AAAH!” Lio shouted as he immediately went off a ledge again.

“Boss, I just lapped you.” Meis stated.

“You’re all cheating somehow. I’ll catch up.” Lio grumbled. As a rule, he hated being bad at anything, but Galo was laughing which took the edge off his bitterness somewhat.

“Lio, noooo! Not again!” Galo wiped tears of laughter out of his eyes.

Eventually, Lio threw his controller on the floor in irritation. “I’m out. I’m making tea. Does anyone else want anything?” When he sat back down with his mug, he leaned against Galo on the couch. Almost immediately, Galo drove right off a ledge and into the abyss.

Too quickly, the evening passed. All of them had to work the next day, so Lio walked Galo to the apartment lobby. “Hey, look. It’s snowing.” Galo noted as he stared out the front doors.

“Can you drive home safely?”

“Doesn’t look like anything is sticking, but I should go.” They stood shoulder to shoulder at the front door, but Galo didn’t make any moves to pass beyond the threshold.

“Do you want me to walk you out to your car?” Lio asked, watching the snow drift past.

“Yeah, but then I’d have to walk you back to your building. Then the cycle would repeat. We could just go back and forth all night.” Galo offered with a smile.

“Doesn’t sound so bad.” Lio returned. “Too bad it didn’t snow during the day.”

“A white Christmas would have been nice…” Galo agreed wistfully. “Lio?”

“What?”

When Lio turned to look up at Galo, he leaned down and kissed Lio’s forehead softly. Lio froze, unable to breath. Eyes closed, Galo stayed just like that while Lio’s heart raced in his chest. Galo leaned back and gave Lio a tender smile. Lio was probably going to die.

“I’ll see you tomorrow. Boxing day! Which I’ve learned actually has nothing to do with boxing!” With a wave, Galo stepped past the door and out into the snow.

Lio stayed, watching him until he disappeared into the night. It took a lot longer for his heart to return to normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Warning: There is some depiction of drinking in this chapter. If you want to skip it, it mostly involves Lio getting drunk and talking about how hot Galo is A LOT. 
> 
> I think I tapped into some deep well of memories for my college years with this chapter because I seriously started dreaming about the crappy mall job I had while in uni. Being broke, queer and trying to survive through the holiday season while working retail sure was a lot.
> 
> I’m complete garbage for kabedon so managing to fit in twice is one chapter was a personal dream come true. Please let the small kabedon the tall. 
> 
> Also Meis is from Texas, so Spanish.
> 
> Galo, please don’t laugh because your boyfriend is bad at video games.
> 
> Next time: Will the boys retrieve their golf club? What exactly is hiding in Galo’s room?


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pizza date! Finally!!

“—and then they would wave the matoi around like so!” Galo demonstrated by waving his arms over his head. “To let other groups of firefighters know where the fire was.”

“Uh-huh.” Lio only had to nod when appropriate to keep the conversation going. He leaned against Galo after their shift, using the taller man to keep warm. 

“Also, the matoi was used to show where to clear a path to keep a fire from spreading.” Galo mimicked waving a matoi around again. “Cool, right?”

Lio took Galo’s arm to try to get him to hold still. “Sure, but… you use water and hoses and stuff when you’re at the firehouse, right? I think that would be more effective”

“You have to appreciate the passion of firefighters throughout history!”

“Uh-huh.” Lio nodded, resting his forehead against Galo’s arm.

“You okay down there? You’re holding onto me like you need me to hold you up.” Galo moved his arm so he could wrap it around Lio’s shoulders.

“Just tired.”

“It’s been a long day.” Galo patted his chest. “Go on, Lio. Rest your head right here.”

“I decline your offer.” Lio didn’t know why he was being stubborn except that it seemed his nature.

“Your ride’s here.” Galo stated before the car horn had even honked. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“You won’t. It’s my day off.” Lio stepped out of the shelter of Galo’s arm.

“Do you still want to meet up for a jog?”

Lio shrugged. “It’s not our usual day.”

“I won’t get to see you otherwise.” Galo stated as if this was the most obvious thing in the world.

Lio let himself smile a little. “Sure.”

“See you then. And Friday — pizza date!” Galo smiled back enthusiastically.

“Yeah, pizza date.” Lio agreed, albeit with less enthusiasm. Pizza date, but also Galo’s last day at the store. Next week, he started back at his old location. They’d only been working together for a little over a month, but Lio had a hard time envisioning the store without him.

“Get some sleep, okay?”

“Sure.” Easier said than done, Lio thought as he walked out to the car. He took his usual spot in the back seat. “Where’s Gueira?”

Meis glanced over at the notably empty passenger seat. “Don’t know. Ask him.”

Of course, Lio saw the ring on his finger where it rested on the steering wheel.

—————————

Gueira and Lio hauled their laundry several blocks through the snow to the laundromat. The snow was a few days old, no longer crisp and white, but gray from de-icer and gravel. The sidewalks were a slushy mess, but at least Lio had new boots to keep his feet dry.

“What the hell is that?” Gueira nodded up to the huge white vinyl banner with blue text which adorned the front of the brick building that housed the laundromat, a corner store and a tiny Thai restaurant that mostly did take-out.

“Forego lines, forego check out! Grab and go — ForeGO!” the banner read with the square Foresight Foundation logo as a piece of punctuation at the end of the banner. “Coming soon!” The banner threatened.

“It’s those new check out-less stores.” Lio could feel his nose running in the cold. “There’s one near the store. Future vision, computer learning, stuff like that.”

“Sounds pretty damn bougie. What’s it doing in a neighborhood like this?” Gueira asked as he hiked the laundry bag further up on his shoulder.

Lio shrugged. It didn’t bode well for rent in the area.

“That’s rough.” Gueira commented as came closer to the building, nodding toward a sign in the laundromat window. It read ‘All Must Go! Final Sale! Closing Soon!’ and indicated to inquire within if one were interested in purchasing the industrial washers. “Think they’re doing a going out of business sale?”

They were not doing a going out of business sale. Each load cost exactly the same as it always had. Lio found this a disappointment as he was not sure how they were going to pay rent, pay bills and feed themselves this month. The numbers on his notebook swam and Lio leaned forward to rest his forehead against his hands. He wanted to sleep.

“Boss?” Gueira looked up from the gossip magazine he’d been reading to pass the time while their laundry ran. He had a ring on his finger, matching the one Meis wore.

Lio lifted his head from the table. “I’ll figure it out.”

Meis usually accompanied them on their laundromat trips and he was better at dealing with Lio’s dark moods than Gueira, but Meis had been out of the apartment by the time Lio gotten back from jogging with Galo. Gueira had said Meis ‘needed space’, but Lio couldn’t help noting that they’d both needed a lot of space lately. Things were strangely tense at the apartment and then there were those rings.

“You know you can probably get an app to do that.” Gueira leaned over to look at the notebook.

“Is the app going to find more money for us?!” Lio irritably pulled the notebook away from Gueira’s line of sight. “Fuck capitalism. Why are we so broke all the time?”

Gueira laughed humorlessly as if that had been a tepid joke and buried his nose back in his gossip magazine.

Lio slapped the notebook back down on the table, his temper stretched thin. “What is going on with you two anyway? When were you going to tell me about the rings?”

Gueira jerked his head up, his expression that of a deer caught in headlights. “What rings?”

“On your hand, you idiot.” Lio pointed to the band on Gueira’s finger.

Gueira let out a long and exaggerated sigh. “I was hoping you’d ask him and not me.”

Lio folded his arms over his chest, leaned back in his chair and waited for Gueira to start talking. Gueira was bad at not talking and, after only a short break, he cracked.

“Meis asked me to marry him.” Gueira muttered under his breath. “I told him I had to think about it.”

“…what?” Lio was not prepared of either of those two statements. “He— You— You said no?!”

The woman at the front counter of the laundromat snapped her gum. She was 100% convinced Meis, Gueira and Lio were all sleeping together and lived for any drama that erupted during their semi-frequent laundromat sessions. Lio glared at her, but she continued watching them with unabated interest.

“I didn’t say no! I just said I needed to think about it!” Gueira protested.

“That’s basically the same thing as turning him down. How— Why?!” Some fundamental part of Lio’s life had gone horribly wrong and he couldn’t get his head around it. “Why does he want to marry you?”

“Gee, thanks.”

“And why would you turn him down?! Are you stupid??” Lio felt his voice rising, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself.

“Yeah, I’m stupid! But so is he!” Gueira gestured toward the door of the laundromat, toward wherever Meis was currently. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his chair. “I don’t get why he even wants this.”

“But you’re still wearing the ring.” Lio sighed.

“I told him I’d think about it.” Gueira reached up and mussed up the hair at the top of his head. “He came up with this plan a few months ago. We were going to get each other rings for Christmas and then we’d exchange them. But at the last minute, I couldn’t do it!”

“If you had concerns, don’t you think you should have maybe discussed it with him before that?” Lio asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Boss.” Gueira said as if he were going to explain something painfully obvious. “I’m a man of action! There’s no place for doubt in my heart. I act decisively and I don’t look back.”

Lio rubbed his forehead. “Right.”

“Marriage is just a sham! Straight people made it up. And I want Meis to stay with me because he wants to, not because we have a piece of paper that says he has to.” Gueira raised up one finger into the air as he spoke, then he deflated a little. “Besides, what if he actually wakes up one day and realizes what a garbage person I am?”

Lio snorted at the absurdity of that. “He’s had plenty of time to figure out what a garbage person you are. Yet he still sleeps with you.”

Gueira sighed in frustration. “We have a good thing going on, the three of us.” Loud gum snap at that remark. “I don’t know why he wants to change that.”

“Meis can be hard to read.” Lio commented.

“Can you talk to him?” Gueira asked.

“You should talk to him! Not me!” Lio protested.

“He likes you. He dotes on you. He’ll give you a straight answer!”

Lio looked skeptical.

“I’ll beat that level on Hell Fire Boy Drops so you can get the New Year’s outfit unlock.” Gueira offered.

“Fine. I’ll talk to him.” Lio handed his phone over to Gueira.

“You are the best, boss.” Gueira keyed in Lio’s unlock code and a few short moments later a pop version of the Hell Fire Boy theme song started playing as the game loaded.

Lio looked down at his notebook and wilted onto the table. “You really don’t want to marry him?”

“It’s so damn domestic. I hate it, the whole idea of it.” Gueira muttered to Lio’s phone.

“Mm.”

Gueira reached over and ruffled the top of Lio’s hair. “You okay?”

“Can’t sleep. And I just found out my best friends might be breaking up after ten years.”

“Insomnia got you bad, huh?”

Lio lifted his head. “What am I going to do if Meis decides to move back to Texas or something?”

“If we get a divorce, we’ll probably have to fight over custody.” Gueira pointed at himself with his thumb. “You’ll come live with Papa Gueira, right?”

“Ha ha.” Lio laughed with utter sarcasm. “Never call yourself that again.”

—————————

He couldn’t find an opening to talk to Meis all night although Gueira kept motioning to Lio to start the conversation. It was rich, coming from him, and that he was too much of a coward to talk to Meis about it himself.

Instead, Lio lay in bed that night, staring up the ceiling and listening to traffic noise two stories below. Meis and Gueira seemed like they had a good relationship. But even they had trouble sometimes it seemed. He didn’t know why Meis wanted to get married. He didn’t know why Gueira didn’t want to get married.

Lio sighed. He started his sleepy time playlist again, but even that wasn’t helping.

He focused on his breathing. He tried to make his mind stop running in circles. He couldn’t imagine what would happen if Gueira and Meis did break up. He couldn’t imagine the two of them apart, they’d been together as long as he had known them. He couldn’t imagine being with the same person for ten years. He couldn’t imagine throwing that away.

He couldn’t imagine a place to hide the knife. The school halls were so long and he was getting blood on his uniform. He had to hide the knife and then he could wash his hands.

“Lio.” Galo stood near one of the windows, wearing his usual peacoat and red hoodie combo. “Come on. We’re running late for work.”

“You’re leaving after tomorrow.” Lio’s arms dropped to his side and something clattered against the tile floor.

Galo held his hand out to Lio. “Lio, did you hide the knife?”

Lio lifted his head and looked at the red numbers on his clock. “Fuck.”

He felt his chest to make sure he wasn’t wearing his old school uniform, but only felt the jersey of the t-shirt he wore to bed. His stomach hurt. Maybe if he splashed some water on his face, he could sleep after that. 

He could wash his hands, if nothing else.

—————————

Galo held Lio’s chair out for him as if he were some kind of gentleman.

“Thanks.” Lio looked around the pizzeria with its dark green walls, polished wood trim and large paintings of the Italian countryside. It even had a red-and-white check table cloth with a little candle flickering in a tiny glass dish. 

“What do you think?” Galo took the seat opposite Lio, grinning broadly.

“It smells marvelous in here.” He whipped the menu up off the table. “I’m starving.”

“Dinner’s on me tonight since I picked the location.” Galo unfolded his cloth napkin. Lio felt a weight lift off his shoulders — he really couldn’t afford dinner. Galo continued, snapping his napkin and setting it into his lap. “You have to try the Inferno Volcano Margherita Megamax. It is one of the seven wonders of the world!”

“What if I don’t like olives?” Lio pondered as he looked over the menu. 

“You have to do the olives! It’s part of the experience.” 

Lio frowned.

“Let’s get half with olives and half without. Then you can taste test and agree with me that olives make it better.” Galo leaned one elbow against the table, propping his chin up on it. He had shed the usual hoodie and t-shirt combo and wore instead a button-up with a blazer. “You want anything to drink? Pizza and beer is a classic combo.”

“Just root beer is fine.” Lio set his menu down.

“You sure?”

Lio barely resisted the urge to slide down in his seat. “I’m not old enough to drink yet.”

Galo stared at him blankly. “But—” 

“It’s just for a few more months!” Lio blurted out. 

“You are a delinquent.” Galo stated in awe.

“Lots of people drink before they turn 21.” Lio muttered. “It’s not that impressive.”

“Oh, hey!” Galo waved to the man working the wood fire grill who waved awkwardly back. “It’s Salvador! He’s the best pizza chef! He can do the thing where he spins the dough over his head. I tried that once, but I just ended up throwing it on the floor.”

“Galo!” A man with flushed cheeks and a round belly in an apron came over to their table. He eyed Lio appraisingly before taking out a small notepad. “What’ll it be, lad?”

“The largest Inferno Volcano Margherita Megamax you got, one half without olives. A side of garlic knots and a side of onion rings. And a pitcher of root beer for the table.” Galo handed his menu back to the waiter.

The waiter took Lio’s menu as well. He gave Lio an exaggerated eyebrow raise and Galo grinned. “This is my boyfriend, Lio!”

Lio didn’t hear the rest of Galo said, because the way he said ‘my boyfriend’ rang in Lio’s ears — as if he couldn’t wait to tell the whole world about it. 

“Hey, they have a foosball table here. Did you want to play while we wait for our food?” Galo ask enthusiastically.

It took Lio a moment to register Galo’s question. “Sure. Are you prepared to lose at foosball?”

Galo grinned. “We’ll see about that!!”

The foosball table resided in a small corner of the pizzeria with a couple pinball machines and a single arcade cabinet. It was noisy in that corner, with the sounds from all those machines. Two kids were at one of the pinball machines, joking around and taking turns with the machine. 

Galo spun one of the rods on the foosball table. “I’ll go get the ball from Henri.” He dashed up to the older person who had taken their order earlier. Did Galo know everyone at this restaurant?

“Are you a boy or a girl?” one of the pinball kids asked.

Lio fixed the kids with his best unamused expression. “I’m an enigma.”

“Cool.” They went back to their pinball game.

“I’m an enigma too.” The taller of the two kids whispered loudly to his friend.

Galo returned triumphantly holding up a small white ball. “Ready to play? I call red!”

“Why red?” Lio thought about fighting him on it just to be difficult.

“Because it’s the proud color of firefighters.”

Lio spun one of the blue rods at the foosball table. “I thought you said orange was the proud color of firefighters.”

“If it’s my color, it’s the proud color or firefighters!” Galo declared.

“Can’t argue with that logic. I’ll play blue.” Just once, Lio thought he might cooperate.

Within a few short minutes, Lio realized he was never going to beat Galo at foosball but he couldn’t admit defeat. For one thing, Lio had never actually touched a foosball table in his life. But he hadn’t actually expected Galo to be good at it either!

After Galo scored another goal, he tried to suppress his smile and look sympathetic, but that hurt Lio’s pride too. “Aw, Lio. We can play something you’re good at.”

“No, I’m going to beat you at foosball.” Lio replied stubbornly.

“Want me to show you some tricks?” Galo offered, walking around the table to Lio’s side.

“No, I don’t.”

Galo stood behind Lio, reaching around to grab one of the foosball rods on either side of him, effectively trapping Lio between his arms. “Okay, so—”

“Go back to your side, you horrible flirt!” Lio turned slightly and smacked Galo in the chest, but Galo grabbed his hand before he could pull it away.

With absolutely zero shame, Galo took Lio’s captive hand and kissed his knuckles. Lio face immediately started to heat up. “I’m feeling very called out.”

“Go. I thought you wanted to play this game.” Lio gave Galo a light push with his free hand which Galo also caught up. Once, just once, Lio wanted to be the one to make Galo blush and get flustered. He twisted his hands in Galo’s until he could lace his fingers between Galo’s own.

“Ooh, I like this development, but your expression is a little scary. Are you going to kiss me or kill me?” Galo teased without blushing at all.

“You’ve discovered my plan to lure you out for pizza so I can murder you.” Lio stood up on his toes and Galo met him partway for a kiss.

“This is a good start to the evening.”

“Well I’m not kissing you after you’ve had garlic bread and onion rings.” Lio pulled one hand free so he could reach up and touch the shaved side of Galo’s hair, just above his ears. 

Galo’s breath caught just a little bit, but then his smile returned. “Shoot! Well, those garlic knots are totally worth it.”

“I was going to kiss you again, but I’m rethinking that now.”

“No, no, no. Kiss me, I implore you.”

With his hands on either side of Galo’s head, Lio pulled him down for another kiss. Lio liked the way the short hair at the side of Galo’s head felt under his fingers and, from the soft noise Galo made into his mouth, Galo liked Lio touching him.

“It’s not fair.” Lio muttered when the kiss ended. “You get me flustered so easily and I want to do the same for you.”

“Lio, I am so sweaty and nervous right now. I can never take this jacket off because I’m sweating so much.”

Lio snorted. “Wow. Sexy.”

“No, what I’m saying is…” Galo looked up at the ceiling for a moment to gather his thoughts. “You absolutely do have an affect on me. You’re super hot. My heart is going a million miles an hour right now. And I’m sweaty because I really want you to like me.”

“I do.” Lio said quietly. 

Grinning brilliantly, Galo swooped down and pulled Lio in for a kiss. Without their mouths parting, Galo picked Lio up by the waist and set him down so he was sitting on the edge of the foosball table. Lio wrapped his arms Galo while Galo’s hands drifted southward.

Loudly, someone cleared his throat behind them. The older waiter watched them, a bemused expression on his face. “Don’t sit on the foosball table please.”

“Sorry, Henri.” Galo lifted Lio back up and set him down on the ground.

“Your food is ready.” Henri motioned toward their table where a tower of onion rings and a plate of garlic knots awaited them.

“Shall we call the game a draw?” Galo asked and he took Lio’s hand and led him back over to the table.

“Sure.”

Another waitress with her long dark-hair pulled back into a ponytail stared at the two of them with a strange expression on her face. Lio didn’t know if she specifically objected to public displays of affection or two guys together, but he flipped her the bird behind Galo’s back anyway. Her eyes went wide and she abruptly walked away.

“These garlic knots are the best, you’ll see.” Galo took his seat and energetically dug into the food.

Lio took a couple bites of the garlic knots and found himself ravenous. He hadn’t eaten anything all day aside from a couple bagel puffs he’d stolen from the store earlier.

Galo asked. “Lio, did you hide the knife?”

“What?” Lio jerked his head up, staring at Galo.

Galo gave him a strange look. “I said, how do you like it?”

“It’s—” Lio reached across the table and pinched Galo in the arm.

“Hey, what was that for?” Galo rubbed his arm.

“Checking to see if I’m awake.” 

“Aren’t you supposed to pinch yourself for that?”

Lio felt a pang of guilt that he was here at this restaurant about to eat more pizza than advised for a second date while Meis and Gueira were at home on strict refrigerator clean out orders. He’d almost forgotten for a moment about the marriage thing, or their lack of funds, or that Galo was leaving the store, or his damn insomnia. He’d been happy.

“Lio, you okay?”

“Yeah. Just thinking the stores going to be so quiet without you.” Lio took another bite of the garlic knot.

“Aw, you’re gonna miss me!” Galo looked touched. “Oh, wait. I brought something for you.” 

Galo turned and rifled through his pea coat, which he’d left draped over the back of his chair. “AAAH!”

“What?”

When Galo turned back to face Lio, he held a single red rose wrapped in cellophane — now, completely bent and crushed. “I’ll fix it.” Carefully, Galo tried to straighten out the rose stem, but it snapped in half. “AAAAAAAAAH!!”

“Galo.” Lio laughed into his hand. “You had it in your coat all day, what did you think was going to happen?”

“Lio…” Galo frowned.

Lio held his hand out. “It’s beautiful. I love it.” Still pouting, Galo handed the rose over. Lio took it gently and sniffed it. “Thank you.”

“One extra large Inferno Volcano Margherita Megamax.” Henri set the largest pizza Lio had ever seen in his life down on the table.

“Thank you!” Galo rubbed his hand together in anticipation. “You first, Lio. I want to see your face when you take your first bite.”

“I hope this lives up to the hype.” Lio pulled off a slice with olives on it for the authentic experience. Galo leaned forward, watching Lio’s face expectantly. Slowly, deciding to make a big show of it, Lio took a bite of the pizza.

A volcano of flavor erupted inside his mouth. The slight spiciness of the red sauce, the creaminess of the cheese and even the salty tang of the olives combined to create a heavenly combustion of flavors.

“Well??” Galo asked impatiently.

“This is the best pizza I’ve ever had in my life.”

—————————

“Tell Salvador he’s outdone himself again.” Galo waved to the man at the brick oven again.

“He’ll be pleased to hear it, Galo. You ready for your check?” Henri looked pleased.

“Yes, please!”

Lio stood and stretched. He couldn’t believe how much pizza Galo had eaten. When he turned, he saw the ponytailed waitress staring at him. “What do you want?”

“Um, I’ve been wondering this, but…” she said in a awkward voice. “Are you Lio? Lio Fotia from Lakeside Prep?”

Lio took a step back, his stomach dropping. Suddenly, things started clicking in his head. He thought of school uniforms and old brick buildings. He thought of graffiti on his locker and teachers who told him not to be difficult. This was Elenna Stafford’s older sister. Elenna Stafford who used to call him terrible slurs behind his back.

“Oh my god, it is you…” she put a hand to her mouth. “Everyone thinks you’re dead.”

“I think you have me mistaken for someone else.” Lio grabbed his jacket.

Galo - sweet, stupid Galo — smiled to Lio. “No, that’s you! Isn’t that crazy running into a friend from school here?”

The look of betrayal he gave Galo was enough to make the other man flinch. Without saying anything else, Lio spun on his heel and walked out of the restaurant with long strides. He didn’t care, he just had to get out.

“Wait, Lio!” Galo called out, hopping to his feet.

Once outside in the cold night air, Lio pulled out his phone to call Meis and tell him to pick Lio up. He was biting his lip so hard that it hurt. Multiple text messages waited for him.

World’s #1 Idiot: Wait  
World’s #1 Idiot: Lio  
World’s #1 Idiot: Sorry  
World’s #1 Idiot: Dont go  
World’s #1 Idiot: Stay  
World’s #1 Idiot: K? (╯︵╰,)

Lio had a brief vision of Galo frantically running around the restaurant, trying to pay for their dinner before Lio could get too far away. Desperately texting Lio through all that. Sighing, he leaned back against the wall.

Lio: I’m outside.  
Lio: Just pay. I’ll wait.

World’s #1 Idiot: Lio (っ˘̩╭╮˘̩)っ

Lio caught himself chewing on his nails and shoved his hands into his pockets. He was having a hard time keeping his breathing at a normal rate. She’d tell her sister that Lio Fotia wasn’t dead after all, there was no way that wasn’t going to make it back to his parents, they’d know he was in Promepolis. They were going to find him, they were going to take him away. He couldn’t—

“Lio!” Galo burst out of the front door of the restaurant and jogged over to him. “I’m so sorry! I wasn’t thinking!”

“Seems to be a common problem for you.” Lio knew he was being mean, but he couldn’t stop himself.

“Okay, I deserved that.”

Lio felt even more awful because Galo didn’t deserve that.

“Talk to me?”

Lio shook his head.

Galo fell silent as well, looking unhappy. He leaned against the wall next to Lio, tapping out a rhythm with his foot. “Did you want to go for a drive? That usually helps me clear my head.”

“On your motorcycle?”

Galo gave him a little lopsided smile. “Yes.”

Lio held out his hand and, after a moment of fumbling, Galo placed the rose in it. “No, I want your hand.”

“Oh!” 

Lio switched hands with the rose and Galo took the hand closest to him. “Take me away, Galo. Please?”

Galo squeezed Lio’s hand. “Anywhere you want to go, I’ll take you there.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry this chapter got a little sad. (´;︵;`) The next chapter will pick up right where this one left off and we are actually going to learn Lio’s back story. 
> 
> What in the world is Hell Fire Boy? According to a Geek Boat interview, there’s a comic in the Burnish village called Hell Fire Boy that’s supposed to be an homage to Inferno Cop. The reason the Burnish all wear black is because Inferno Cop is their hero. I can’t really see Meis, Gueira and Lio being super into a comic about cops in this universe (even skeleton cops with their heads on fire), so let’s just say that Hell Fire Boy is multi-volume epic version of the Promare movie (with names changed) from Lio’s point of view as the titular Hell Fire Boy. 
> 
> So yes, Meis and Gueira call Lio boss because the main character in the Hell Fire Boy comic is also called boss. Hell Fire Boy Drops is basically Sailor Moon Drops but with HFB characters so Lio is trying to get a Year of the Rat outfit for… himself? I’m not going to think about it too much, except that I would totally play Promare Drops. 
> 
> Next time: Will Lio unlock all the special New Years outfits in Hell Fire Boy Drops before the end of the event? Is pizza one of the seven wonders of the world?


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lio tells Galo about the events leading up to him leaving Michigan and coming to Promepolis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please heed the content warnings for this chapter! Click through to the end notes if you want a more detailed (and spoiler filled) description of events.
> 
> cw: homophobia, parental unacceptance, parental abuse, underage alcohol use, bullying, implied sexual assault (not depicted), blood 
> 
> This might seem like a lot but I’m trying to tag everything in an over abundance of caution! If you want to skip this chapter and come back when it’s fluffy again, feel free to read the end notes for a synopsis and come back at the next chapter.

Lio clung to Galo as he drove to the outskirts of Promepolis on his motorcycle. He’d only told Galo to take him ‘somewhere’. Galo had nodded as if he understood and then they’d set off. Freezing winds whipped around them and Lio had no idea where they were going. He pressed close to Galo to stay warm — his jacket was definitely not meant for racing around at night in the middle of winter.

Buildings abruptly gave way to pine trees as Galo took a corner off the main road and down a steep hill. Lio had no idea where they were at this point. Lio leaned as close as he could. “Galo, are you kidnapping me?!”

“What?” Galo shouted back, the wind nearly stealing the words away.

But they had nearly reached their destination and Galo parked his motorcycle a few short minutes later. “Here we are. It’s going to be beautiful this time of year!”

“It’s freezing.” Lio took the helmet off and passed it back to Galo before briskly rubbing his own arms in an attempt to warm up. “Where are we?”

“Frozen Lake Park. Well, obviously it’s not frozen in the summer, but it’s winter now!” Galo explained excitedly as he set off down a snow covered path between the trees. “Maybe we can skate on it.”

“It’s freezing!” Lio exclaimed as he followed after Galo. “And it’s late! What are we doing out here?”

Galo stopped and turned to face Lio. “You told me to take you somewhere far away. This is pretty far away!”

Lio supposed he had said something like that. 

“You’ll like it, I promise. And if you don’t like, I’ll take us somewhere else.”

The path opened up when it hit the shores of a wide, frozen over lake. A clear night sky hung overhead and Lio felt as if they’d left Promepolis entirely. The lights of houses dotted the far side of the lake, but they were the only two in the park.

“Sometimes I like to come up here when I need to clear my head.” Galo said as Lio stood next to him.

Lio shoved his hands in his pockets, trying to warm them up again. Even Galo looked a little pink-cheeked from the cold. Their breaths rose around them as white puffs.

Galo watched Lio closely. “What do you think?”

“It’s nice. It’s pretty.”

“Do you want to play that game where we ask each other questions?” Galo asked suddenly. “Would that help?”

“No.” Lio shook his head. He thought he’d know what to say, but he still had no idea where to start. Instead, he pointed up at the sky. “That bright star there is Betelgeuse. And if you follow it around to that star, that star, that star…” Lio traced a shape in the sky. “You have the constellation Orion.”

“You know, I’ve thought this before, but—” Galo nodded, smiling to himself “—you’re pretty smart, Lio.”

Lio took a deep breath. “I used to have a telescope. My parents thought it was an acceptable activity for me to be interested in science.”

“Oh.” Galo put an arm over Lio’s shoulders. “You cold? You’re shivering.”

“You had to drag me out to the coldest spot in Promepolis.” Lio complained as he leaned against Galo. “It’s your duty to make sure I stay warm.”

“Mission accepted!”

Lio fidgeted with one of the buttons on Galo’s blazer where it showed from underneath his coat. Taking a deep breath, Lio took the plunge before he could talk himself out of it. “Galo, I… left home when I was fifteen.”

Lio never knew how people would react to that bit of information so he continued to mess with the button, unable to look up at Galo’s face.

“You left or your family—?” Galo left the other half of the question hanging.

“I left.” Lio reiterated fiercely. This distinction was important. “I left and I came to Promepolis and that’s how I met Meis and Gueira. They took me in.”

“Oh, wow. I— I mean, for once in my life, I’m speechless! Ha ha!” Galo had a strange definition of speechless as he kept talking. “I don’t know what to say. That must have been difficult. I can’t even imagine.”

Lio let go of Galo’s jacket to look up at him. “So that’s me. Lio Fotia, former teenage runaway.”

“Can I ask a question?” Galo pulled Lio a bit closer.

“Don’t ask anything stupid.” Lio warned.

“Is it because… I mean, did you have problems with your family because you’re gay?”

“Sort of, not really. It’s complicated.” Lio sighed. “I just had problems with my family in general.”

—————————

Lio slouched in the chair opposite his dad’s desk. It was a favorite tactic of his, to make Lio wait. He was the kind of person that would employ stupid power plays against his own kid. What an asshole. It had occurred to Lio on more than one occasion that his dad kept a letter opener in the top drawer of his desk and he could use to scratch something into the polished surface of that hunk of furniture. He’d never quite worked up the nerve to do it though.

(His dad loved that stupid desk. He should have done it.)

He watched the second-hand tick forward on the oversized wall clock, picking at a loose thread in the chair upholstery and trying to take up as much room as his small frame would allow.

The door clicked open and his dad entered with measured steps. Lio glared up at him, refusing to sit upright as his dad crossed the room and sat at his desk. He took one look at Lio and sighed. “Must you act like this?”

“Like what?” Lio demanded.

His dad raised an eyebrow and Lio scowled. They didn’t look alike at all, outside of both of them possessing blond hair and fair skin. His dad was tall and broad shouldered, he’d played football in university. Lio took after his mother who was much more petite. He hated it.

“I think it is time to discuss this figure skating… thing.” His father spoke with distaste.

Lio stared down at his hand as he messed with the thread. He’d known this was coming.

“Your mother and I have been quite tolerant up to this point. But you’re in high school now and we think it’s time for you to focus on your studies.” His dad leaned forward on the desk, folding his hands over the surface.

“Uh-huh.” Lio sounded skeptical.

“Lio.” His dad spoke in the tone that meant his word was law. “Sit up. Quit sulking.”

Glaring up at the ceiling, Lio shifted his weight so he was sitting properly.

“It would be different if you were competitive, but almost good enough just isn’t good enough.” His dad continued. “We both know you’re wasting your time on this.”

You stopped coming to competitions, what do you know? Lio thought, but didn’t dare say it out loud.

“If you want to get into law school, you need to keep your grades up and stay focused. You should be doing something that looks good on your college applications. Not messing around on the ice.”

Lio didn’t want to go to law school. No one had ever asked him.

(Lio never even graduated high school. That had to be some kind of revenge.)

“So, it’s time for you to quit. I’ve already told your coach.”

Lio scowled.

“Lio.”

Ugh. “Yes, sir.”

“Now, about that Vance boy—”

Lio’s head snapped up. So that’s what this was really about. “What about him?”

“You are not to be seeing him anymore.” His dad answered calmly.

“You can’t-!” Lio jumped to his feet.

“Tone of voice, Lio.” His dad warned.

Lio made himself sit back down, his fists clenched in his lap. “He’s my friend. You can’t stop me from seeing him.”

His dad slammed his palm onto the desk and Lio jumped. “I know what’s best for you! And in this house, my word is law.”

“Yes, sir.” Lio emphasized the word ‘sir’ to make it sound as sarcastic as possible. “Are we done, sir?”

“Why do you have to be so difficult?” his dad sighed.

—————————

“Ugh, how much of this do you want hear?” Lio asked. 

Galo answered quickly. “As much as you want to tell me.”

“I was the absolute stereotype of a petulant teen.” Lio muttered in embarrassment. 

“You’re just barely not a teen now, you know?” Galo grinned.

Lio elbowed Galo in the coat. “You can’t be that much older than me.”

“I’m a very sage 22-years-old, thank you very much. And I was never petulant. I was always a good kid.” Galo’s goofy grin turned wistful. “I had people I wanted to make proud of me. But back to your story.”

“Right. I guess things got bad after my parents made me quit figure skating. I’d seen a skating competition on TV in fourth grade and I begged my mom to let me skate until she finally relented. I think my dad only let me get away with it because it was sports adjacent.”

Galo made a strange face, bordering on pained.

“What?” Lio demanded.

Galo’s words came in a jumbled rush. “I have so many questions!! Do you mean you competed and stuff? Did you have the outfits? Because I really, really want to see pictures! Please!”

“Um.” Lio counted off his responses on his fingers. “One, I competed in middle school. Two, yes outfits. Three, I don’t have any pictures, those were all left at my parent’s house.”

He didn’t mention that if Galo were to google around, he could probably find video of old competitions.

“Darn.” Galo’s shoulders slumped. “Why did you have to quit? I bet you were really good.”

“I wasn’t quite good enough. Couldn’t catch up to the kids that had been skating since before they could walk. My dad, he wanted me to focus on my studies so I had to quit. It’s not as if I could drive myself to those practices so I didn’t have much of a choice.” Lio shrugged. “Also, I might have been caught kissing one of the other boys at the rink.”

“What!? Lio, please! Tell me everything!”

—————————

Lio stood at the edge of the rink, watching Solon practice. He moved with absolute grace as he practiced his routine for the upcoming competition. As the music crescendoed, Solon jumped and Lio counted the rotations. He missed the landing, but recovered gracefully, flashing Lio a little sheepish smile as he continued.

Lio felt his heart flutter in his chest.

“I know I’d find you out here.”

Lio jumped as if he’d been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “Fuck, Lani. You scared the shit out of me.”

The taller girl laughed. “Lio, your language. You look sweet, but you ruin the illusion every time you open your mouth.”

To prove her point, Lio flipped her off. She laughed more and pushed his hand away. “You’re a brat, you know that, right?”

“It’s one of my most charming features.”

“You should talk to him.” Lani said quietly.

Lio decided to play dumb. “Who?”

“Sol.” Lani nodded out to the ice. 

He felt the blush creep into his face. “It’s not… like that.”

(But it was exactly like that.)

“He has a competition coming up. I bet he’d like it if you went and cheered him on.” Lani gave him a knowing smile.

“He won’t even notice me.” Lio objected.

(But Sol did notice. The bright shining star of their rink had noticed him and smiled at him from the ice and Lio lost his heart then and there.)

—————————

“Do you really want to hear about the boy I used to have a crush on?” Lio asked.

Galo nodded enthusiastically.

“His name was Solon Vance. We all called him Sol. He was cute and he was nice and he was really shy. I would always watch him at practice when I could.” Lio covered his face, thinking about how stupid he’d been back then. “He was my first crush.”

“Aw.”

Lio lifted his head. “I’d never felt that way about anyone before. It was actually really confusing at the time. I always just kind of figured I’d grow up and start liking girls, but— That just didn’t happen.”

Galo nodded as if he completely understood. 

“Eventually, I worked up the nerve to confess to him. God, can you imagine some dumb kid coming up to you and asking if you can text him and maybe hold hands?”

“It sounds sweet.” Galo responded softly. “Should I be jealous?”

“Maybe. He was really nice to me. I liked him a lot.” Lio answered smiling a little.

Galo squeezed Lio’s shoulders. 

“Eventually he kissed me and eventually we got caught.” Lio sighed. 

“Your first kiss?” Galo asked in a slightly dreamy voice. 

Lio nodded. “When you came out to your gran, how did she react?” 

“Oh, uh…” Galo scratched at the side of his head. “She didn’t really get it at first. In the end, she just wanted me to be happy so it was never really a big deal if I was dating a guy or a girl.” Galo turned to face Lio. “I take it your parents weren’t…?” 

“They said it didn’t change how they felt about me. They said they were happy to have me for their son. My dad’s a politician, so maybe they didn’t think ‘estranged gay son’ would sound too great to voters.” Lio shrugged. “But they wanted me to be like the gay in a Disney movie where it’s 30 seconds of two guys dancing. Easy to cut out, easy to ignore, easy not to talk about. They wanted me to be discrete and try to fit in.”

“Can’t put you in a box, huh?” Galo smiled.

Lio laughed without mirth. “Not even back then. I figured if they wouldn’t let me do figure skating anymore, I’d go and join the school’s LGBT club with my friend Lani.”

“Ooh, rebel Lio.”

“The club was pretty small — seven members after Lani and I joined. It helped, knowing that I wasn’t alone, even if I was still figuring stuff out.” Lio rubbed his hands together, then held them out to Galo. “My hands are cold, warm them up.”

“Wow, bossy.” Galo released Lio’s shoulders, turning to face Lio so he could take both of his hands and rub them briskly. “Is this better?”

Lio nodded. “Thank you. Just making sure you do your duty.”

“Did you say doody?” Galo made a face like he was waiting for Lio to laugh.

“I’d kick you if you weren’t keeping my hands warm.”

Galo lightly pressed Lio’s hands between his own to keep them warm. “I guess even you had to figure that stuff out, huh?”

“What, that I’m gay?” Lio asked. He’d had a lot to figure out, more than just whether he liked girls or boys. “It’s not that I don’t like girls. Most of my friends back in middle school were girls. They just lack a certain allure for me.”

“Well, let me tell you, I didn’t realize everyone didn’t like everyone for quite some time. We all have our struggles.” Galo smiled.

That was so like Galo to love the world indiscriminately and not realize that not everyone else felt the same. “Fuck.”

“What?”

“Nothing.” If this dopey feeling was what falling for someone felt like, he didn’t want it. “I’m not sure why, but, in the summer between my freshman and sophomore year, my parents decided to send me to leadership camp.” Lio gave this statement the world’s most sarcastic jazz hands.

“Leadership camp? What’s that? It sounds fun!” Galo exclaimed. “And anyway, did you do jazz hands?!”

“It’s not fun it was stupid! Just a bunch of stupid ass rich kids hanging out and talking about how they’re going to make the world a better place for themselves. Because that’s what people with money and power do!” Lio took a deep breath, cutting himself off before he went off on an anti-capitalist rant. “Rich people suck.”

—————————

If nothing else, shitty rich boys knew where to find alcohol. Lio lounged on the back deck of the leadership camp lodge with half a dozen other boys, listening to them complain about the ways that life was unfair, and feeling more than a little tipsy. Jerome leaned closer to him, refilling his wine glass and placing one hand on Lio’s thigh as he did so. The summer heat must have been getting to Lio, because he felt very warm. 

(Lio had wine before at meals with his parents, but he’d never drank solely for the purpose of getting drunk before that night.)

“We’re gonna hit the pool. Wanna come, Jer?”

Lio wasn’t invited. That much was clear.

Jerome nodded his head in Lio’s direction. “Nah. I’m gonna stay up here and babysit the ▅▅▅▅▅.”

“What a hero.” The others laughed as they left.

Lio was used to getting called names so it didn’t bother him much. At least, it didn’t bother him now after he’d this much wine.

When they were alone, Jerome took hold of Lio’s hand, wineglass and all, and tilted it so he could take a sip of Lio’s wine. He grinned at Lio, licking his lips. “Did you want to kiss me?”

“Me?” Lio sat up a little. “Why?”

“I fucking hate this place. You’re the only good thing here.” Jerome pushed Lio back against the chair, pinning him. It was extremely hot.

(He should have told Jer to go fuck himself.)

Jerome was the son of a friend of his dad’s, but he was a year older and too cool for Lio by his own estimation. They hadn’t exchanged more than a handful of words prior to this, but Jerome was good-looking and it would piss his dad off. Lio thought he wouldn’t be so bad. “Okay. Kiss me.”

(But he didn’t.)

He took the wineglass from Lio and leaned back to set it on the table behind him, but he misjudged and set the glass on the edge of the table. It toppled over and spilled wine all over the floor. “Shit. That stuff’s worth $200 a bottle.”

Lio pondered how many dollars worth of wine he’d consumed and would subsequently piss out. “Fuck…”

Jerome turned his attention back to Lio. “Money is for other people to worry about, right?” Then he leaned down and kissed Lio as if he could sear all the air out of his lungs.

When at last the kiss ended, Lio just stared at Jerome. That had been nothing like kissing Sol.

“So…” Jerome grinned in a cocky way, reaching for the waist of his pants. “You wanna blow me?”

“Ew, no.” Lio shoved Jerome off him and jumped to his feet. “Fuck off.”

“Oh come on, you ▅▅▅▅▅!” Jerome yelled after Lio as he stormed off the deck. “It was just a joke!”

—————————

“What happened at leadership camp?” Galo asked.

“Nothing much. Just a bunch of piece of shit rich kids.” Lio pulled one hand free from Galo’s grasp so he could run it through his hair. “I used to be a piece of shit rich kid.”

“Really?” Galo asked in shock. He looked over Lio’s too thin jacket and gifted orange gloves. “But you— You’re always broke now.”

“I don’t really talk to my family anymore.” Lio answered shortly.

“Oh. Wait, so if you were rich and you went to a fancy school, does that mean you used to have a school uniform?” Galo’s asked eagerly.

“That’s what you’re going to focus on?”

“I just want the proper visual for imagining young Lio! What color was it? Was it blazer or gakuran style?” Galo’s voice rang with excitement.

Gaku-what? “Er, gray jacket, blue tie.”

Galo nodded solemnly. “Okay, good.”

“Are you imagining it?”

“Uh-huh.”

Lio punched Galo in the arm with his free hand, making sure to go for his good arm. “Well, stop! I was fifteen at the time! That’s weird.”

Galo rubbed his arm. “Sorry, sorry.”

“What is with people and school uniforms anyway?” Lio muttered.

“I always just thought having one would be cool! You know, ka-pow! Here’s my uniform! Now I’m going to save the world!” Galo tried to explain.

“Well, I hated my uniform. So.” Lio shrugged again.

“That whole ‘don’t put me in a box’ thing.”

“Yeah, I guess. Did I hit you too hard?” Maybe, Lio thought, he should be nicer to Galo then he was to his roommates.

“Ha! It barely hurt at all, Lio! You’ll have to try harder next time!” Galo exclaimed.

—————————

Before he even reached his locker, Lio could see the word ▅▅▅▅▅ written in bold block letters with sharpie on the front of it. Again. “Fuck.”

His sophomore year was off to a great start.

“Jesus Christ…” Lani hissed. “Who keeps doing this?”

(It seemed unfair that Lio could remember that graffiti so clearly, but had a hard time remembering Lani’s face. She’d been tall, dark-haired, but her face was a blurred mystery now.)

Lio put in the code to open his locker and shuffled which books he had in storage and which he was taking to class with him. He wanted to hit something, anything really, but slamming things in an out of his locker had to suffice. “When I find out who it is, I’m probably going to get suspended again.”

“Don’t pick fights, Lio…” Lani looked troubled. “You’re going to get hurt.”

“What am I supposed to do?!” Lio slammed his locker shut. “It’s not like the school cares.”

Lani sighed. She’d tried talking to the vice principal about it and he’d promised they’d ‘look into it’, but as far as either of them knew, nothing had actually happened. Lio had tried leaving the graffiti up to see if leaving the school less than pristine would spur them into action, but he’d only gotten in trouble for not reporting the incident so the janitor could clean it up.

“Just be careful.” Lani advised. “Don’t try and fight them alone. I’ve got your back, okay?”

“I know.” He couldn’t do anything and the anger burned in his stomach. He spun the dial on his locker, opened it up, just so he could slam it shut again. “We should find the janitor.”

—————————

“I started having problems at school in my sophomore year. Bullying and stuff.” Lio looked out over the lake, then back at Galo. “I’ve always gotten called names, but this was more targeted. Galo, are you sure you want to hear this? It’s not going to get any better from here.”

“Of course I do! I mean, if you want to tell me.” Galo took Lio’s hands again and rubbed them to warm them up.

“It’ll probably… make you sad…” Lio stated under his breath.

“I’m not afraid of a little sadness. A burden shared is a burden shared. That’s the saying anyway!”

“A burden shared is a burden— Never mind. I tried to keep busy with the club and choir, but that kind of thing wears on you after a while. The school wasn’t doing anything either.” Lio wished Galo would let go of his hands and keep holding them at the same time.

“That’s terrible!” Galo exclaimed with too much volume.

“My mother was oblivious as always. My dad…”

—————————

“Why can’t you just fit in?”  
.  
.  
.  
“Why do you have to make everything so difficult, Lio?”  
.  
.  
.  
“I’m doing this because I know what’s best for you.”

—————————

“He blamed me. It was somehow my fault I was getting bullied.” Lio tried to keep his voice light, but his shoulders tensed up. 

Galo made a face Lio couldn’t decipher. 

“My dad wasn’t a good person. I was never what he wanted me to be and he let me know constantly that I was a disappointment.” Lio let out a long breath which turned white in the cold air. He should be over all this by now, but it still hurt.

“Come here.” Galo opened his arms up and Lio stepped closer. Slowly, Galo wrapped his arms around Lio and pulled him tight. Lio came up to just the right height to rest his head against Galo’s chest. “I don’t get this parent stuff sometimes, but that sounds really rough.”

“Yeah.” Lio agreed as he let Galo’s warmth seep into him. “We were fighting a lot, constantly really. He tried to force me to behave how he wanted, you can probably guess how well that went.”

Galo laughed under his breath. “Not well.”

Lio balled his fists up in the fabric of Galo’s blazer. “Sometimes I’d make him really mad and he’d hit me.”

—————————

Lio’s eyes swept the audience for his parents although he didn’t know why. They hadn’t been there the other times he checked. Everyone clapped as they finished their performance. The choir bowed in unison and then the teacher bowed as well. As the applause started to die down, Lio walked off stage with the rest of the choir.

They had fought the night before, his dad furious over Lio making a scene in one of his classes again. “It’s school approved curriculum, not propaganda!” His dad knew the principal and didn’t understand why Lio couldn’t just behave himself and keep his mouth shut during class. Lio had gone off about how his history class was really just white supremacist rhetoric — where were the accomplishments of anyone who wasn’t a white man? — when his dad hit him. 

It happened sometimes when Lio mouthed off too much. Made his dad angry. Disrespected him.

“You’re spacing out, Lio.” Lani observed as she held a bottled water out to him.

He shrugged, took the water from her. Family stuff was family stuff, so he couldn’t tell her. “Thanks.”

“Well, if it isn’t the Gay Chorus.” Jerome laughed as he walked by, as if he didn’t make that joke every time he saw Lani and Lio at choir practice together.

Lani made a look of disgust at Jerome’s back. “Stupid jock. I think he damaged all his brain cells in wrestling.”

“Yeah. He’s a jerk.” Lio agreed, taking a drink of his water. Jerome always acted like he was better than everyone else in choir because he was on the wrestling team, but he was still in the choir.

“Wow.”

“What?” Lio asked sharply.

“That’s a rather weak insult coming from you.” Lani snorted.

“It’s unkind to insult those without the mental fortitude to defend themselves.” Lio observed dryly as Jerome walked toward the door out into the school hall.

Lani laughed. “That doesn’t normally stop you. Something on your mind?”

“No, I’m fine.” 

Lani narrowed her eyes at him, looking skeptical. “How’s stuff with you and your dad?”

“Fine! Christ.” Lio slammed his bottled water down onto the table. “You’re so nosy. Leave me alone about him.”

Lani frowned, then her eyes traveled past Lio to her own mom. She waved her over, smiling. “Mom!”

Normally, Lio liked Lani’s mom, but today he just felt bitter that Lani’s mom cared. “I’m going to call for a ride.” Lio headed out to the hallway under the excuse of better cell phone reception.

Once out of the backstage area, he turned through the empty halls and took the stairs up to the second floor two at a time. This was supposed to be a performance for the parents and any friends the choir members could convince to attend. His dad had long been too busy to attend stuff like this. Lio didn’t even know why he was in this stupid choir anyway, except that Lani had asked him.

Jerome stood in the upstairs hall, idly checking his phone. 

(If Lio could have done any single thing, he would have burned his 15-year-old self off the face of this earth.)

Lio closed the gap between the two of them and shoved Jerome up against the wall. Their lips met and both of them tried to devour the other. This was a bad habit both of them had.

“Jesus, Lio.” Jerome smirked.

“Shut the fuck up and just kiss me.”

(He’d been so stupid back then.)

Jerome flipped them so Lio was the one pinned against the wall. Their mouths were on each other, Lio’s hands roamed over Jerome’s shoulders. Jerome’s hands went lower, fumbling with fastening on Lio’s uniform pants.

“Hey, no.” Lio grabbed his hand and pulled it away. An unwritten rule stated hands stayed above the waist — or so it had gone thus far.

(He always made bad choices as if he wanted to get hurt.)

Jerome’s expression soured. He grabbed Lio by the wrist, squeezing tightly. “Come on, Lio. You can’t fucking come onto me like this and not expect to ▅▅▅▅▅▅▅.”

Eyes wide, Lio tried pulling his hand free. “Let go of me.”

“I resp▋ct your right to mak▃ choices re▀▀▀ing your own body, ▅▅▅.” Jerome said as he released Lio’s arm.

Lio walked away without getting hurt.

(Everything would have been better if it actually had ended like that. He’d been so fucking stupid back then.)

—————————

Galo hugged Lio hard enough to squeeze the air out of him. “Lio…”

“I pushed my dad a lot.” Lio spoke more into Galo’s chest than anything else since Galo seemed determined to crush him in his arms. His throat closed up, making it hard for him to speak. “I made a lot of bad choices. I talked back to him and made him get angry all the time.” 

Galo loosened his grip slightly so he could run his fingers through through the shorter hair at Lio’s neck.

Lio angrily wiped his eye where a tear threatened. “Sorry. I just— I hate that I used to be the kind of person who let people hurt me.”

Abruptly, Galo held Lio out at arm’s length, looking down into his face. Galo looked sad and Lio couldn’t help feeling like he’d said exactly the wrong thing. “If someone hurt you, it’s not because you let them.”

“I know that.” Lio snapped, feeling irritated with himself.

“Even if you fought, you didn’t make your dad hit you. You didn’t deserve—” Galo gestured of out toward the lake, as if trying to encapsulate too many things “—any of that.”

“I know.” Lio sighed, looking up at the stars which had gone blurry. “I do really. I told you this would make you sad. Maybe we should stop.”

“No!” Galo protested. “We came this far, I want to hear the end. But can I hug you while you finish your story?”

“Don’t crush me this time.” Lio closed the distance between them, looping his arms around Galo under his coat. Galo smelled like clean laundry and maybe a bit like cologne he’d put on for their date. It wasn’t unpleasant. Lio found he actually liked it.

Galo put his arms around Lio’s shoulders. “Please continue. I promised I’d keep you warm and I’m going to do it!”

—————————

Lio’s nails had been chewed down. He’d stopped that habit in middle school, but here it was, back again. It wasn’t like he needed to look nice for skating anymore. Who cared. He didn’t.

Graffiti defaced his locker again. They’d gotten creative and written “Death to” before the slur this time. If it was a threat, would the school actually do anything this time? He thought about taking his phone out for a picture as evidence, but that would have taken too much effort.

“Where have you been the last few days anyway?” Lani demanded as she leaned against the lockers next to his. “School is so boring without you.”

“I don’t know. Didn’t feel like going to school.” In truth, he’d simply skipped. He couldn’t face accidentally running into Jerome. His stomach hurt. He spun the dial on his locker and started putting his code in.

“I had an idea, Lio.” Lani continued enthusiastically, looking over the graffiti on his locker. “If we take this story to the school paper, maybe we can get them to make a fuss about this. And then, maybe we can use that to pressure the school into taking action.”

“What for?” Lio opened up his locker. “I give up. I don’t care anymore.”

Lani frowned. “Giving up isn’t the Lio Fotia way. I’ve never known you to stop fighting. If something is wrong, you can tell me. We’re best friends.”

Lio glared at her. Over the past three days, Lio had turned the idea of talking to Lani over and over in his head. He wanted to confide in her and cry on her shoulder and maybe that would absolve him of all the guilt eating him up. He knew Jerome was a selfish asshole, he knew Jerome was always trying to push Lio, he shouldn’t have gone up those stairs, he should have done anything, anything, anything except—

“I know something is bothering you, so don’t even try lying to me.” Lani interrupted his thoughts.

Lio took a deep breath to steady himself. “I can’t tell you right now.”

“Okay.” Lani frowned, her voice turning conspiratorial. “Why don’t you come over after school? I’ll let you eat all forbidden junk food.”

“I’m going to need a lot of junk food.” He wished he could laugh or smile to reassure her, but he didn’t have it in him. His stomach hurt and he felt sick.

The locker door suddenly slammed shut and Lio just barely managed to pull his arm out of the way in time. “What the fuck?!” Lio spun around and fixed his attackers with his best pissed off look.

Four guys from the wrestling team, including Jerome, walked by and Lio knew with absolute certainty that one of them had been the one to close his locker on him. One of them had an extra large sharpie clipped into a pocket on their backpack. They wanted Lio know. Jerome glanced over his shoulder and gave Lio a ‘what are you gonna do’ look as if he were helpless to stop his friends.

Lio thought of Jerome laughing while the other three wrote that word on his locker over and over again.

A switch flipped over inside him and Lio lit up with rage. Other students cleared out of his way as he closed the distance between himself and Jerome and his wrestling buddies. “It was you?! It was you this whole time?!”

“I don’t know—” Jerome started pathetically, looking alarmed as Lio came closer.

Lio shoved him. His stomach hurt and he felt like he could spit fire. “You!? You did what you did to me and you’re the one calling me a ▅▅▅▅▅! You stupid piece of shit!”

Noise erupted from his fellow students as soon as it looked like there might be a fight. Jerome glanced around at the gathering crowd uncomfortably. “Oh come on, Lio. It was just a little joke! Can’t you even take a joke?”

None of them were prepared for Lani to punch Jerome right in the mouth.

—————————

“We found out who had been writing slurs on my locker. It was—” Lio swallowed “—one of the kids I’d met at leadership camp and his wrestling team buddies.”

“No way!” Galo exclaimed. “Stupid jocks!”

“When my friend Lani found out, she punched the shit out of him. Gave him a bloody face and everything.” Lio smiled grimly at the memory. “All three of us ended up getting suspended in the end.”

“Lani sounds good.” Galo nodded.

“She’s the best.”

“Are you still in contact with her?” Galo asked.

Lio shook his head. “No. I don’t talk to anyone back home. For a while, I was scared my parents would find me and make me go back home. I guess I’m still kind of worried about that.”

Galo fell quiet for a moment before asking, “They can’t do that, can they?”

“I don’t know. I’m not a minor anymore, but they’d have other ways to force this issue.” Lio shrugged, then decided to change the subject. “We got in a big fight after that, my dad and I. He didn’t want me to be friends with Lani anymore. He wanted to smooth everything over with the school so all of that would be like it never happened.”

“Oh… That’s…”

“And we were fighting and then he hit me and I just… I did something really bad. I had to leave after that because I couldn’t stay. I knew I’d end up like him if I stayed.” Lio let go of Galo with one arm so he could rub his forehead.

“What happened? I can’t imagine something so terrible that you can never go home again.” Galo frowned.

“I’m not a good person. I know you see me that way.” Lio chewed his lip. “There are some things you don’t get to be forgiven for.”

Galo reached up to stroke Lio’s hair. “So you ran away because you hurt someone?”

After a short hesitation, Lio nodded, still unable to meet Galo’s eyes. His voice came out small and choked. “I hated him so much.”

Galo crushed Lio with another hug. For a while, they stood like that, neither of them speaking. At last, Lio broke the quiet. “I stole a bunch of money from my mom and bought a train ticket to Promepolis. That’s how I ended up here.”

“Why Promepolis?” Galo asked.

“I don’t know. You see it in movies and stuff, I guess I’d built up a romantic notion of the city.” Lio answered. “Also, it was the farthest city I could afford tickets for.”

Galo tilted Lio’s chin up so their eyes could meet. “Maybe this doesn’t mean much, but I’m glad you’re here now. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” 

Lio sniffled, immensely grateful that Galo didn’t feel the need to point out that he’d started to tear up. “You’d find someone else.”

“Nah. I think we found each other. And I only know the you of now, but I don’t think you’re a bad person.”

He would think that, Lio thought. “You’re too naive.”

“It’s not naive! It’s believing the best in people! And I believe in you, Lio Fotia.” Galo lightly kissed the top of Lio’s head.

“I’ll try to be the kind of person who deserves your belief in me then.” Lio wiped his eyes again.

“Maybe you already are. How do you like them apples, huh?” Galo poked Lio in the back.

“I’d say your apples might be rotten.”

“Maybe they’re a little sour, but never rotten! I’ll turn them into a pie!” Galo proclaimed. “I think this analogy may have gotten away from me a bit.”

Lio gave a small laugh. “A bit. Galo?”

“What?”

With one hand, Lio reached up to run his finger’s over Galo’s jawline. “I’m glad I’m here too. Even if it maybe doesn’t mean much.”

Galo grinned and Lio stood up on his tiptoes. Leaning closer, Galo closed the gap between them until—

Lio jumped when Galo’s phone started vibrating as a rapid succession of text messages hit. What a way to ruin the mood.

Galo pulled his phone out, looking a little confused who would be texting him that much. “Since when do you have a curfew, Lio?”

“Shit.” Lio pulled his phone out and checked the time. It had just hit 10 o’ clock. “Is that Gueira?”

“Yeah. How’d you guess?”

“Tell him to fuck off.”

Galo looked scandalized. “I’m not telling him that!”

Lio shrugged as he texted the middle finger emoji to Gueira. Several of them in a row. Maybe that would get the point across to him.

“Oooh, is he in trouble?”

“Maybe.” Lio pulled himself away from Galo enough to pull his jacket tighter. “I probably should get home. I can’t really feel my toes.”

Galo offered his arm to Lio. “Then let me be your chariot ride home!”

Lio took his arm and let Galo guide their way out of the park. With his toes having long since gone numb, Lio slipped a few times on the path back up to the parking lot and Galo caught him every time. 

—————————

“I don’t think that Lani is a suitable friend for you.” His dad’s voice was calm as it was when he knew he had the upper hand. 

(He always had the upper hand.)

His mother stood by and watched helplessly, wringing her hands but not saying anything. Her usual routine when Lio got into a fight with his dad.

Lio gripped his own arm hard enough that it hurt. He was going to take Lani away like he’d taken Sol away before. “She didn’t do anything wrong!”

“She hit Mart’s boy.” His dad said as if that were the end of the conversation. “She’s bad influence on you, Lio. I just don’t approve of such violence.”

“You’re such a hypocrite!” Lio exclaimed, his temper rising. “Did you forget about the part where ‘Mart’s boy’ ▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅-?!”

His dad backhanded Lio with enough for to knock him back against the kitchen counter. Lio gripped the counter, using it to hold himself up.

“Not my son, not my s▃n…” his dad muttered. 

Hot tears burned Lio’s eyes, but he was never going to let his dad see him cry. “What do you mean ‘not my son’? You might be ashamed of what I am, but I’m still your child! You can’t deny that!”

“Watch your tone of voice, Lio!” His dad scolded him like he was a small child. “And that’s exactly why I’m not going to let you ruin your future over this. I’ll smooth everything over with Mart and the school. It’ll be like it never happened.”

“You can’t just cover this up! You can’t smooth it over and make it go away!” Lio shouted, his voice tight.

“It didn’t happen. We’re not going to talk about it anymore. Listen to me, Lio. I know what’s best for you.”

Anger spiked, sharp and hot, inside Lio. His hand closed on the knife handle sticking out of the block and he spun. His dad’s eyes went wide. Lio wanted to hurt him. The knife hit something soft and sunk in. Somewhere in the background his mother screamed.

(Blood. He remembered blood.)

Lio looked up, met his dad’s eyes. His face was dark and his eyes narrowed. His dad lashed out, grabbing Lio at the throat and slamming him back against the kitchen counter. Screaming again and his mother trying to separate the two of them. Lio couldn’t breath.

He still held the knife and Lio desperately thrust it up under the ribs. It sunk in much deeper this time. Lio would kill him. With a grunt, his dad’s grip slackened. 

His mother pushed them apart, her face tear streaked. “Please stop! Don’t hurt each other! We’re family!”

Gasping, Lio sucked in air. He saw his hands which were covered in blood. 

(That anger, that desire to hurt people, that was in him too. Just like his dad.)

“Lio, call 911. Call 911!” his mother sobbed.

He shook his head. There was blood everywhere and he was still holding the knife. “I- I can’t…”

Instead, he ran.

(Galo would hate him. Despite everything Galo thought of him, Lio was not a good person.)

—————————

“Did you want to come up?” Lio offered as Galo stopped outside the run down apartment building. “I mean, my roommates will be there, so it won’t be romantic, but we can probably watch a movie or something together.”

Galo brightened. “I’d like that a lot!”

Luckily, the visitor spot in the parking garage was still open by some miracle as Galo flat out refused to park his bike in the fire lane.

“It’s the fire lane, Lio.” Galo stated sternly at the suggestion. No one cared as much about fire safety as Galo Thymos.

Lio let them into the lobby and started up the stairs, but Galo caught his hand and tugged lightly to stop him. When he turned, he found himself nearly the same height as Galo from his perch a few steps up.

“This was kind of a bad date, huh?” Galo asked. “I’m kind of an idiot for what I said at the pizza place.”

Lio shook his head. “You didn’t know.”

“I’ve never made anyone cry on a date before.” Galo smiled sheepishly. 

“I didn’t cry!” Lio objected.

“Uh-huh.”

Lio turned away and continued to march up the stairs. “If you want to make it up to me, you better cuddle with me on the couch.”

“It’s a burden I’m willing to bear!” Galo hurried after him.

Meis and Gueira sat at opposite ends of the couch, watching a cooking show when Lio let them into the apartment. The gap between them looked huge even though it was only one couch cushion.

“I’m home. Galo, do you want some tea or something?” Lio asked as he untied his boots by the door. “We have chamomile or peppermint.”

“I’m good.” Galo kicked his shoes off. “Not a big tea person.”

Lio gave Galo a look.

“I don’t like hot leaf water! That’s what tea is!” Galo returned to Lio’s accusatory glare.

“Coffee is just bean water.” Lio commented as he filled up the electric kettle. “Did you two want anything?” Lio called out to the living room.

“I think I’m just going to bed.” Meis got up and stretched. He ruffled Lio’s hair as he detoured through the kitchen on his way to the bedroom.

Once tea had been made, Lio took his mug and joined Gueira and Galo on the couch. “Scoot. Make room for me.”

Gueira laughed. “Boss. Please learn to sit like a normal human being. The couch isn’t your throne!”

Lio wedged himself between Gueira and Galo, leaning up against Galo. “We have differing opinions then.”

“Galo, I hope you realize your boyfriend is a couch hog.” Gueira grumbled.

Galo smiled. “I know. He’s infamous at the store for his inability to sit in chairs.”

“What?” Lio sat up. “You’re joking. Are you that bored that you gossip about how I sit?”

“No, Lucia thinks it’s hilarious that you’re this small—” Galo held his hands close together then spread them apart “—but you take up this much room.”

Gueira snickered. “Serves you right. At least the whole world knows the pain I have to put up with.”

Scowling, Lio leaned against Galo again. “Do I have to grow taller so I can put my arm around you? Or are you going to put your arm around me?”

“Yes, boss.” Galo replied in an amused tone, obliging Lio and draping his arm over Lio’s shoulders. “Better?”

Lio snuggled into Galo’s side, liking how they fit together like this. “Much.”

As the three of them couldn’t settle on a movie, they started the next episode of a baking competition show that all of them had seen before. Galo and Gueira compared notes on their favorite competitors of the season while Lio sipped his tea. He didn’t pay much attention to either the episode or the conversation. Galo’s arm around him felt reassuring in a way.

Eventually, Gueira reached over and grabbed Lio’s mug away. “You’re gonna spill that, boss.”

“Hm?” Lio couldn’t only muster up the energy for that much of a response.

“Should I go?” Galo asked quietly. “He’s half asleep.”

“If you wake him up, I will personally murder you.” Gueira threatened.

Lio’s head drooped back down to its spot against Galo’s chest. He didn’t quite know why he’d resisted resting his head against him before — Lio couldn’t think of a nicer place to put one’s head. 

Gently, Galo pet Lio’s hair. “Can you hear my heart?” Galo whispered, a real whisper not a stage whisper.

“Uh-huh…” Lio agreed sleepily.

“It’s all yours.”

That’s so ridiculous, Lio thought as he closed his eyes.

“What time is it?” Lio asked, wide awake as sudden dread at not knowing the time filled him.

Galo looked sleepily down at him. “Uh?”

Lio felt the blanket draped over his shoulders and the second blanket placed over his and Galo’s lap. Gueira was no longer in the room, but Lio suspected this to be his handiwork. The TV was off, the fridge running in the kitchen and noises off the street the only sound in the room. “How long was I asleep?”

“Shoot, I fell asleep with my contacts in.” Galo yawned and reached for his phone. “It’s almost 2 am. I should head home.”

Lio shook his head, still feeling a little disoriented. That might be the longest block of sleep he’d gotten in weeks. “You could just stay. I’d let you take my bed and I’ll sleep out on the couch.”

Galo smiled softly. “Tempting, but I need to feed Smoky. Besides, I need to take my contacts out, my eyes feel like gummy worms.”

“I don’t know what that means, but gross.” Lio reached up and slowly pulled Galo down to kiss him.

“You’re all sleep warm.” Galo commented when their lips parted. “And you have amazing bed head.”

“I do not. I always look perfect.” Lio sat up so he could finger comb his hair. He looked back at Galo to find him watching with a soppy expression. “Are you safe to drive?”

“Yup!” Galo hopped to his feet, slapping himself vigorously on the cheeks to wake up. “I’m super awake now.”

“I’ll walk you out.”

In quiet, the two of them pulled on shoes and jackets to brave the cold hallway of Lio’s building. Galo held his hand as they walked down to the lobby together.

“Do I get a goodbye kiss?” Galo asked when they reached the ground floor.

In response, Lio stretched up so he could kiss Galo. One kiss turned into more slow, sleepy kisses that made Lio feel as if he could melt.

“I’m going to need to get you a box to stand on or I’m going to start developing chronic neck pain.” Galo teased.

Lio glared. “Are you calling me short?”

“I’m calling you a pain in the neck.”

“I’m reconsidering kissing you again.”

Galo reached out and took Lio’s hand. “Lio?”

Lio glanced up at Galo. “Don’t say anything stupid. I’ll change my verdict on this date.”

“I lo-”

Immediately, Lio put his hand up over Galo’s mouth. “Don’t. Not now. You might change your mind later and I don’t know if I could take that.”

Galo’s expression went grim, but determined. “Okay, but can I say it later?”

“Maybe. Next time, pick a better spot than the lobby of my shitty apartment building.”

Galo looked over their surroundings. “You make a good point. I’ll need something much more dramatic.”

“Text me when you get back to your apartment, okay?”

Galo squeezed Lio’s hand. “Don’t stay up worrying about me.”

“Who said I’m worrying about you? Just text me when you get back to your apartment.”

“Good night, Lio.” Galo smiled to himself as he let go of Lio’s hand and let himself into the parking garage.

Lio waited until the sound of the engine of the motorcycle had faded away into the night before returning upstairs. Only after Galo texted him a picture of Smoky eating his very late dinner did Lio turn the lights off. Even then, sleep wouldn’t come, but at least Lio felt warm thinking about what Galo almost said. If this was what falling for someone felt like, maybe it wasn’t so bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Start spoiler synopsis!!): Lio tells Galo about his past and why he ran away from home. He was caught kissing one of the boys at his skating rink so his parents forced him to quit skating. This put a strain on his relationship with them, especially his dad. He rebelled by joining the school’s LGBT club and making out with a boy who was in choir and the wrestling team named Jerome. Meanwhile, he was getting bullied at school specifically by an unknown group who was writing homophobic slurs on his locker. After a choir performance, Jerome tries to push Lio into doing more than just making out. When it is revealed that Jerome and some other members of the wrestling team were the ones leaving graffiti on Lio’s locker, his friend Lani punches Jerome and the three of them are expelled. Lio and his dad get into a fight about his friendship with Lani, Lio’s dad hits him, and Lio stabs his dad with the intent to kill him. The two get broken up before Lio can actually commit murder, but he runs away after that and takes the train to Promepolis.
> 
> After relating this story, Lio and Galo go back to Lio’s apartment. Lio falls asleep on the couch with Galo while watching a cooking show. Afer they wake up, Galo tries to tell Lio something starting with the letters ‘lo-’ but Lio stops him.
> 
> (End spoiler synopsis!!)
> 
> I’m back! This fic isn’t dead! This chapter just took me a really long time to write because some of the scenes were really hard for me to get through. If you think of any content warnings I missed, please let me know and I’ll add it in. I’m actually pretty nervous about releasing this chapter.
> 
> My original plan was to end the chapter after Lio’s flashback with the knife, but then my heart couldn’t handle it unless I made Lio happy again.
> 
> Also this chapter ended up being so long! I had wanted to get into how Lio met Meis and Gueira, but it just didn’t fit in thematically. I still kind of want to write about that, but maybe I’ll do it separately so I’m not slowing down the main story if it takes me a long time to get through.
> 
> Next chapter is going to be nothing but fluff (maybe).
> 
> Thank you everyone for leaving me such kind comments so far! I really appreciate them. This ‘small fic’ I started back in December has completely grown thanks to all of you.
> 
> Next time: Do Lio and Galo realize the Promare bluray will be released in Japan soon? Will we have a release date for the US by the time the next chapter comes out?


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lio and Galo can’t go on a date and Valentine’s Day is tomorrow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At some point, I thought I was going to have this chapter done in time for Valentine’s Day. Um, enjoy!
> 
> cw: some discussion of sex

“So what are your plans for Valentine’s Day?” Lucia asked as she tossed the stick of her lollipop into the trash and turned the faucet on to wash her hands.

Lio felt suddenly acutely aware of multiple pairs of eyes on him. Out of all of the people out on the floor at that moment, Lio might be the only one that wasn’t currently single on this Valentine’s Day. What a unique feeling. He’d have to try to be humble or Lucia would find some way to get revenge on him.

“I have to work that day, so no plans really.” Lio shrugged.

“Lio, you know Galo is a total romantic, right?” Lucia chided him. “You have to go out and do something.”

Lio heaved a long sigh. In truth, since Galo’s classes had started back up again, they hadn’t really had much time for dating outside of the odd breakfast or coffee run after their morning jog. He never thought he’d miss someone in quite the same way he missed Galo. “Galo has class and work that day. I picked up an extra shift.”

Lucia wrinkled her nose.

“I thought you didn’t date, what do you care?”

“Just because me personally dating is uninteresting, doesn’t mean I can’t be very into two of my friends dating.” Lucia grinned at him. “Besides I want to know how big—”

“Don’t you dare!” Lio made a move as if he could cover Lucia’s mouth.

“Lio!” Aina snapped at him from across the store. “Now you have to wash your hands again. Didn’t you see the new signs in the back?”

Lucia scooted out of the way of the sink so Lio could wash his hands. Twenty-three seconds of hand washing, because Promepolis Coffee Co liked to go above and beyond. Those extra three seconds were certainly going to stop the spread of the flu epidemic. He didn’t want to sing Happy Birthday twice times in his head anymore.

“So what’s your girlfriend like?” Benji, the new kid, sidled over to ask. “Is she pretty? I bet she’s pretty.”

“You’ve met Galo, my boyfriend.” Lio stated pointedly. “He came by last week to pick up some study notes from Aina. You know, the guy with the spiked hair and FDPP jacket?”

“Boyfriend?” Benji paused for a second as his brain caught up. “Wait, you’re gay?!”

Fuck. Lio needed to figure out what had happened to his rainbow heart pin, immediately.

—————————

Lio scrolled through his instagram feed as the bus stopped to take on more passengers. He glanced up to see the newest passengers shaking rain off their coats before turning his attention back to his phone. Galo had introduced him to the wonderful world of internet cats and his feed had become much cuter as a result. Only a single shot of palm trees broke up the flow of animal pictures. Lio paused on it for a long while before tapping through to the poster’s profile.

Profile name Lanileaellynasaura (how was one supposed to pronounce that, really) who was also known as the hobby photographer LΛNI who was better known to Lio as Lani. He’d had Gueira find her profile a few months ago and just watching her feed had been enough for Lio until the run in at the pizza parlor. Lio always thought people back home were happier without him, he hadn’t really considered that anyone might miss him. He hadn’t thought people would think he’d done more than simply run away, but rather that he’d gone missing or was even dead.

He tapped the button labeled ‘Message’ and stared at the white screen. How could he even start this? ‘Hi, it’s me, Lio. Sorry you thought I was dead for five years. Please don’t hate me. University looks nice and you’re in California now. Is Cali nice? Anyway, message me back. I miss you, bye.’

No, that definitely wouldn’t work.

Lio closed the app when he received a text from Galo.

World’s #1 Idiot: Im on my break want to c sum pictures? (o´▽`o)

Lio: Is it cute animals?

World’s #1 Idiot: U no it! Cappy capybears kapibarrs

World’s #1 Idiot: I cant spell it (｡╯︵╰｡)

Lio: Capybara?

World’s #1 Idiot: YAH!!!!!!!!!!!

Galo followed this up with a rapid fire series of pictures of capybara in hot springs. 

Lio: They look cozy.

World’s #1 Idiot: I want 2 go 2 hot srpings with cappybaera

World’s #1 Idiot: Do u think I could pet 1 sumday do u think capybearas purr?

World’s #1 Idiot: R cappybars soft? (≧◡≦)

Lio never thought he would be googling ‘how soft are capybaras’, but here he was.

Lio: I guess it feels like petting a coconut.

World’s #1 Idiot: I luv coconuts thx!!!! ( ‾́ ◡ ‾́ )

World’s #1 Idiot: Lio!! I had great idea ＼(≧▽≦)／ 

World’s #1 Idiot: Cum pet capybaras w me 1 day

Lio: Galo. Your spelling.

World’s #1 Idiot: Ha ha oops!!!!

World’s #1 Idiot: Guess that means sumthing else ha ha (ノ*°▽°*)

World’s #1 Idiot: Lets go 2 the zooooooooo

Lio: It’s my turn to plan our date. Remember?

World’s #1 Idiot: I no

World’s #1 Idiot: BUT

World’s #1 Idiot: Next TIME

World’s #1 Idiot: Ppolis zoo will b ours!!!!! (≧◡≦)

Lio hadn’t been to a zoo since he was a child. Galo had enough enthusiasm for at least three children. Still, Lio smiled to himself, imagining holding hands and looking at capybaras in a pool together.

Lio: Do they even have capybaras at the Promepolis Zoo?

World’s #1 Idiot: I dont no I will look n c

Lio: My stop is close. I should go.

World’s #1 Idiot: Ok c u Lio

World’s #1 Idiot: (ﾉ´ з `)ノ ❤ (´｡• ε •｡`)

Lio fumbled around with the on-screen keyboard on his phone, trying to figure out how to text a kiss emoji back to Galo. He really, really hoped no one on the bus noticed his cheeks turning red. Eventually, he had to settle on something much simpler.

Lio: ❤

And then he shoved his phone back into his pocket before he could see Galo’s response. Lio wanted to die for texting something so mushy to Galo. What had gotten into him lately? Before Lio could figure out a way to melt into his seat and disappear forever out of embarrassment, the bus came to a stop.

Once out on the street, Lio darted under an overhang to get out of the rain and pulled up the address he’d been texted which Gueira put into the maps app for him. The buildings here looked nice with the street level shops filled up with boutique stores of locally handcrafted goods, cafes that served organically grown coffee beans and restaurants with menus full of trendy fusion meals. His destination was only a few blocks but the real question was if Lio was going to look like a drowned rat by the time he arrived.

Lio ran the few blocks between the bus stop and the address. He stopped at the gate that marked off the perimeter of the tiny yard in front of the building and buzzed the unit as he’d been told. Standing next to the gate, rain poured down on him directly and what little parts of Lio were still dry became drenched.

“Who is it?” Aina asked over the intercom.

“It’s me.” Lio leaned closer to the speaker.

“Oh, I’ll buzz you in.” 

The gate clicked open and Lio hurried past to the slight alcove by the door. A few minutes later, Aina pushed the front door of the building open. “It’s really coming down, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Lio stepped through the doorway and into the building.

Aina led the way up to her condo. Lio had only been here once before for a Halloween party last year and, at the time, he’d thought Aina’s place spacious and expensive. Without all the people and the Halloween decorations, the place looked even larger. Open kitchen with plenty of marble counter tops, brand new stainless steel appliances, matching cookware that hadn’t been rescued from a thrift store.

“Let’s hang your coat up to dry.” Aina took Lio’s jacket from him.

“Thanks.” Lio somehow managed to repress the urge to shake himself off like a dog to dry.

Aina looked him over. “I’ll get you a towel.”

A few minutes later, Lio had toweled himself off and Aina lent him a knit cardigan to wear to keep warm while his hoodie dried. It was pink, but Lio didn’t mind because it was dry. While his pants were still damp, Lio couldn’t do much about it unless he wanted to get even more naked at his supervisor’s condo. He didn’t.

“Do you want some tea? Or coffee?” Aina shuffled into the kitchen on slippered feet. “What do you usually like on a sandwich?”

“What? Why?” Lio asked, suddenly suspicious.

“I haven’t had lunch yet and I’m hungry. It would be rude not to feed you as well.” Aina answered haughtily.

Lio crossed his arms. “Just come out and say it. You think I’m poor and can’t feed myself.”

“You passed out at the store once!” Aina replied in exasperation. “I don’t know your financial situation, but you always eat lunch at the store. And I’m your friend, I’m allowed to worry about you.”

“I had curry for lunch. Thank you very much.” Lio muttered. He’d made a big batch of the stuff with veggies that had been on sale at the discount market and had been eating it at least once a day since. He hated to admit that even he could get a little tired of curry after a while. “But I’ll eat a sandwich, if you’re offering.”

Aina smirked and opened up the fridge. “I don’t know how to feed you. Is cheese okay? Do you even eat cheese?” she asked with her head stuck into the fridge.

“Yeah, cheese is fine.” Lio walked over to admire the line up of baking ingredients organized on the counter. He set his own bag of ingredients out on the counter and started unpacking them.

“I got this new tea from Phoenix Street Tea Room. They say it tastes like lemon pound cake and it really does!” Aina straightened up with an armload of sandwich ingredients. “You should try it. Can you put the kettle one while I start this?”

Lio filled up the electric kettle with water while Aina sliced up a tomato and pulled some leaves off a head of butter lettuce. 

“You’re making three sandwiches. Is your sister home?” Lio asked, glancing toward the hallway which was the only place remaining for Aina to hide.

“She’s working from home today.”

When the tea was done and the sandwiches assembled, Aina brought a tray to her sister in her office down the hall before the two of them sat at the kitchen table with a tablet between them. “I think we should make the chocolate tart first so it has time to cool before you go home.”

Lio nodded his agreement, taking a bite of his sandwich. A strong cheese that could hold its own in a sandwich, surprisingly ripe tomato for February and lettuce that wasn’t iceberg. He could almost cry.

“Then, we’ll start on the cookies. Did you manage to find everything on the list that I sent you?”

Lio swallowed before answering. “Yeah. I set it out on the counter.”

Suddenly, Aina smiled conspiratorially and propped one elbow up on table, resting her chin on it. “So this is surprisingly romantic, Lio. I didn’t know you had it in you.”

Lio ducked his head to hide the slight flush creeping into his cheeks. “It’s not.”

“You were the one who suggested it.” Aina’s grin widened. “Making chocolate tarts, huh? And Valentine’s Day is tomorrow. I wonder who you could be giving it to.”

“I just wanted to do something nice for Galo! It’s not a big deal!” Lio protested, feeling his face get warmer.

Aina chuckled. “You really do have a soft side.”

“So, who are you giving your tart to? Who’s your special someone?” Lio spat back, turn about being fair play and all.

Aina froze for a moment before answering. “Who said anything about that? I’m just making something for a friend!”

“Uh-huh.” Lio took another bite of his sandwich.

Aina glared at him. “Don’t rub it in just because you have someone for Valentine’s Day and I’m single. Again.”

Lio frowned. “It’s just another day, if you think about it. The only reason anyone cares is because chocolate companies and flower companies thought they could sell more this way, so they commercially exploited it.”

“I know, believe me.” She sighed. “But this time of year, I just want someone to give me chocolates. The fancier the better!”

“You can just buy them yourself on the 15th. It’s cheaper that way.”

“That’s not the point!” Aina exclaimed. “I want her to meet me after class and she’ll say , ‘Oh, Aina. I’ve secretly had a crush on you this whole time!’ and then she’ll hold the box of chocolate out to me because she’ll be embarrassed to say anything else. And of course I’ll accept them and later she’ll tell me, ‘I don’t know what I was scared to talk to you about this. We could have been dating the whole time.’ And we’ll hold hands and laugh about it.”

She? Lio thought. Anyway, Aina’s scenario was too detailed. He took the last bite of his sandwich.

Aina glanced over at Lio, suddenly turning red as she realized she had said too much. “She doesn’t feel that way about me, I know. So it’s just a friendship tart.”

So there was someone after all, Lio mused.

“Oh, Lio. You’re here.” Heris commented as she brought her plate out of the office. “I thought Aina was having one of her friends over.”

“Do I not count as a friend?” Lio asked under his breath.

“That’s not how she meant it.” Aina shook her head at Lio as she rose to her feet. “Did you want to help make cookies, Heris?”

Heris shook her head. “I must continue working, I’m afraid.” She ruffled Aina’s hair affectionately. 

“I’ll bring some cookies up for you.”

“I would like that. Lio?” Heris turned her attention to Lio. 

“Um, yes.” Lio got to his feet as well. Heris always had an air about her like she was depressed and Lio didn’t know what to make of her.

“Are you treating Galo right?” Heris asked without blinking.

Lio thought back to all his time with Galo. Had he been treating Galo right? Why did he feel like he was getting interviewed by an overprotective parent? “I, uh, I think so.” 

Heris regarded Lio and he felt sweat prickle at the back of his neck. Suddenly, she turned and faced Aina. “You two have fun.”

After Heris retreated back to her office, Aina put Lio to work in the kitchen — which was fine by him. Most of Lio’s experience with baking came from a home ec class he’d taken in middle school. Their first task was to assemble the oat and graham cracker crust for the tart. Lio drizzled in melted butter and then pressed it into the miniature pie pans. Or in this case were they tart pans? Once the crusts past Aina’s inspection, she placed them in the oven to blind bake.

Next, Aina stirred coconut milk while it heated on the stove top while Lio roughly chopped dark chocolate for the filling. There was something kind of soothing about chopping up dark chocolate and Lio soon found himself getting into a rhythm.

“Shit.” Lio swore as the knife sliced into his finger.

“Ah! Be careful!” Aina warned him after the fact.

Lio grabbed a paper towel and wrapped it around his finger to stop the bleeding. “It’s not serious.”

“You better not be bleeding on the chocolate. That’s a biohazard.” Aina came over to inspect the cutting board.

“I’m not!”

“There’s a first aid kit under the sink in the bathroom. I have to keep stirring the coconut milk, but Heris will show you where it is.”

Holding the paper towel tight to his finger, Lio stomped down the hall until he found the partially ajar door to the office. “Heris?” he asked, nudging the door open with his foot.

She jumped and turned to face the door. “Yes. I’m sorry. Are you lost?”

“I cut my finger. I’m looking for a band aid.” Lio explained.

“Oh!” Heris got to her feet. Without saying anything else, she led the way down the hall to the bathroom and ducked down to retrieve the first aid kit from under the sink. “Hm. We only have Vinny band aids. These must have been a gift from Galo.”

Lio rinsed the blood off, wincing a little when he realized just how much he was bleeding.

“Let me.” Heris held her hand out.

“I can take care of this myself.” Lio dried his finger off with some toilet paper so he didn’t accidentally stain one of the towels.

“Very well.” Heris sighed. He felt a bit childish and Heris sighing like that certainly didn’t help. 

To prove his point, Lio bandaged his own finger and held it up to inspect it. The Vinny bandage reminded him a bit of Christmas when Galo had patched him up after Smoky had scratched him.

“Am I missing important time with Aina?” Heris asked out of nowhere.

Lio looked over at her. “I don’t know. Are you?”

“I think I would like to join you and make cookies.” Heris concluded.

When Lio returned to the kitchen, Aina gave him a kitchen glove to wear over his bandaged finger. “Thanks.” Lio commented as he pulled it on.

Between Aina, Heris and Lio, the three of them made short work of finishing up the tart preparations. They melted the chocolate into the heated coconut milk and poured it into the baked tart shells. Lio allowed himself to admire their handiwork for a brief moment. They looked nice, like something one would buy out of a fancy bakery.

“I’m sure Galo will love it,” Aina reassured Lio.

“Oh, it is for Galo. That’s romantic, isn’t it?” Heris asked. “Valentine’s Day is tomorrow if I am remembering right.”

“It’s not a big deal!” Lio protested irritably. “Why shouldn’t I want to give my boyfriend something for Valentine’s Day?”

Heris regarded Lio for a moment before speaking. “Is there something embarrassing about caring for another person? It will mean a lot to Galo that you made something for him.”

“I don’t know why people keep making a big deal out of it.” Lio picked at the sleeve of the borrowed cardigan.

“I’m happy for him.” Heris patted Lio awkwardly on the shoulder. “Galo has a bad habit of giving his heart away too easily, to people who don’t deserve it.”

Lio didn’t know what to say to that, so he said nothing. He wasn’t certain he deserved Galo’s heart either.

Furthermore, did that mean Galo tried to confess to everyone on the second date? 

“Let’s start on the cookies. Heris, did you want to help?” Aina asked from the kitchen.

“I would like that very much.”

Between the three of them, the cookie baking went fairly smoothly. Aina set Heris to measuring out all of the ingredients, while Lio was put in charge of preparing the chocolate drizzle for on top of the cookies. This meant chopping more chocolate.

“Geez, Lio. No wonder you cut yourself.” Aina scolded. “Didn’t your parents ever teach you how to hold a knife?”

Lio slammed the knife down on the cutting board with a thud. “No actually. They didn’t.” He snapped with more indignation than he intended. Aina looked at him with a strange expression and Lio forced himself to take a deep breath. She hadn’t meant anything by it.

“Here.” Aina took Lio’s hand and rearranged it so he was holding the knife differently. “Don’t just chop. You can keep the point on the board and use that like a hinge.” Still holding Lio’s hand, she moved it a few times to demonstrate.

“Thanks.” Lio’s voice came out sarcastic in contrast to his actual feelings. Most of what he knew how to do in the kitchen, he’d learned from streaming cooking shows with his roommates and none of them featured basic knife skills. He tried again. “Thank you.”

While the cookies were in the oven, Aina made a second round of tea for everyone. They retreated to the living room and Lio took the arm chair so no one could complain about him hogging the couch. After excusing herself, Heris returned to her office to continue working.

“What did Heris mean when she said that Galo gives his heart away too easily?” Lio asked after taking several sips of his tea.

Aina sighed. “That he’s kind of an idiot. He’s always falling for guys that really aren’t that good to him in the long run. He falls in love with all of them, no matter how much they hurt him.”

“Oh.” Lio commented, keeping his eyes on his mug. Who were these people that would dare hurt Galo? Sure, he was kind of an idiot, but he was earnest and good-hearted and always putting other people first. Lio would personally make sure to crush every single one of them.

“He has a saving people thing, which means he needs to find damaged people who—” Aina suddenly cut herself off as she noted Lio lifting his head to give her a sharp look. “Shit, I didn’t mean it like— Okay, I kind of do mean it like that.”

“It’s fine. I know you told Galo to stay away from me at first.” He should have been angry, but instead Lio was pleased Galo had someone looking out for him. 

Aina slapped her palm onto her forehead. “Of course he did. He never thinks about what he’s saying before he says it.” She motioned to the whole of Lio’s being where he sat on the chair. “But you’re basically Galo catnip. Of course he was going to go for you.”

“I don’t know if I should be insulted by that or not.” Lio frowned. “You don’t think I won him over with my glowing personality?”

Aina snorted. 

“Okay, now I know I’m being insulted.” Lio glared.

“I’ve known him since we were kids, forgive me for being a little overprotective.” Aina quipped back. 

Lio sighed, swirling the remains of his tea around in his mug. “Do I pass inspection?”

“Depends on how these cookies turn out.” She got to her feet. “This first batch should be just about done.”

Before long, all of the cookies were out of the oven and drizzled with chocolate. Aina placed Lio’s share of the cookies into a box for him to take home with the tart for Galo. They carefully wrapped everything up in plastic so it wouldn’t get wet on the trip home. When Lio pulled swapped back to his usual black hoodie and pulled his jacket on, Aina stopped him before he could pull his boots on.

“He never lets anyone touch that bike of his.”

“What?” Lio asked, confused.

“If you want to know if it’s true love.” Aina answered. “Ask him to let you drive his bike. If he says yes, then you know it’s for real.”

Lio looked down as he tied his shoes, thinking of that beautiful motorcycle. He would give anything to touch it. “And that’s how I’ll know it’s true love…”

“He’s never let any of his other boyfriends touch his bike.” Aina shrugged. “Try it. See what happens.”

“I’ll see you at work tomorrow.” Lio said once his shoes were tied. 

“Tomorrow.” Aina smiled back.

—————————

“Where’s Meis?” Lio asked as he untied his boots at the door. “I brought presents.”

“Presents?” Gueira sat up on the couch. “To what do I owe the honor?”

Lio shrugged off his jacket and hung it up to dry in the hall. “It’s Valentine’s Day tomorrow.”

“You got me chocolates?!” Gueira asked with undisguised enthusiasm.

Lio retrieved one of the boxes from his bag and brought it over to Gueira, setting it on top of his head. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Gueira.”

“Boss!” He eagerly grabbed the box and ripped it open. “Cookies! Sweet! Did you make these?” Immediately, he popped one into his mouth. “I didn’t get you anything.” He commented with his mouth full.

“Where’s Meis?” Lio repeated. “I have some for him too.”

“Dude, I don’t know. I think he went up to the roof.” Gueira expression soured. “I’m not his keeper.”

“You two need to work this out.”

“He’s being stubborn! That’s not my fault!” Gueira gestured with his hand toward the ceiling.

“Talk to him. I can’t take much more of this odd stand-off or whatever is going on between you two.” Lio crossed his arms over his chest.

“I’m trying.” Gueira grunted in frustration. “Quit bugging me. You’re making the cookies taste bad.”

Lio rolled his eyes. “You’re welcome, Gueira. Glad we’re friends too.” He turned on his heel, making for the door. “I’m going to get Meis and then we can have dinner, okay?”

“Hey, boss.” Behind him, Gueira’s jacket jangled as he jumped to his feet and hugged Lio from behind. Lio bristled, but didn’t pull away. “Thanks. This is a stupid and unfair world, but I’m glad you’re here.”

“Why are you getting all weird on me?” Lio turned so he could look at Gueira.

“Nothing.” He let go of Lio. “I miss Meis. I miss— Hell, I don’t know… I can’t do the marriage thing! I’m not marriage material.”

Lio looked over Gueira’s miserable expression. “Is it really that bad?”

Gueira threw himself face first down on the couch. “Ugh. Yes.”

Lio left Gueira to feel sorry for himself, pulled his boots and his jacket back on and climbed the flights of stairs up to the roof. As soon as Lio opened the roof access door, he heard the sounds of soft acoustic guitar and the patter of the rain against the building roof and the overhang that provided some relief from the elements. Lio closed the distance between himself and a set of plain wooden benches and sat down next to Meis who had his guitar in his lap.

“Hey.” Meis looked up from his playing. His eye make up looked more than a little smudgy.

“Happy Valentine’s Day.” Lio held the box of cookies out to him.

Meis reached out and took the box. “Thanks, boss. Is it okay if I open it now?”

“Yeah.”

Meis leaned down and set his guitar back in the case before opening the box. “Cookies. I didn’t know you baked.”

“Shut up. I’m an excellent baker.”

Meis grabbed Lio’s hand. “What happened to your finger then?”

Lio glared at the traitorous bandage. “Freak accident.”

Mei’s turned Lio’s hand so it was palm up. He stared at it without speaking.

“Are you and Gueira breaking up?” Lio asked abruptly.

Meis pressed his lips together. “Maybe. I don’t know.”

“Why are both of you being so stubborn? And why won’t you talk to us?” Lio pulled his hand away in frustration.

“I’ve told you. I want to grow old with Gueira. That’s all there is to it.” He turned to retrieve the guitar for its case.

“You can do that without getting married.” Lio sighed.

“But I want to get married.” He turned to Lio, the look in his good eye strangely intent. Not normally much of a talker, Meis spoke with determination now that he’d gotten started. “I want Gueira to promise to stick with me forever and I want to promise to be with him. I want him to promise that he won’t— That he won’t just up and leave one day.”

Lio chewed his lip. 

“Is it so bad to want something?” Meis looked away his hair falling forward into his eyes. “And to want someone else to want the same thing? And then there’s the legal stuff. What if something happens to him?”

Lio pulled a knee up and wrapped an arm around it. Both of them must have been thinking back to when Meis himself had been stuck in the hospital. 

“I want to be able to take care of him.” Meis glanced over at Lio. “And you, if I can.”

Lio leaned over to rest his head against Meis’ upper arm. “You do take care of us.”

“I know it’s a lot to ask, but I want to be a family. A real one with legal documents to prove it.”

Lio swallowed, a sudden lump in his throat. Family. “Okay.” He leaned into Meis a little more. “Okay.”

Grinning slightly, Meis started playing his guitar again — one of the few things Meis had kept of his father’s. He played a more upbeat tune this time. Lio didn’t know the name of the song, but he’d heard Meis play it before. Pausing, Meis wiggled his arm. “You’re making this difficult, boss.”

“Can I ask you something?” Lio asked into Meis’ shoulder.

“Sure.”

“Does it feel good? If both people are into it? Sex, I mean.” Lio pointedly did not look at Meis.

Meis stopped playing and Lio could feel Meis’ eyes boring into him, scrutinizing him. After too long of a silence, Meis finally spoke. “Oh my god. Are we having The Talk?”

“Can you just answer the question?!” Lio’s voice rose as his embarrassment skyrocketed.

“Yes, boss. It feels great with the right person.” He reached over and patted the top of Lio’s head. “To be honest, I wasn’t sure you were into the whole sex thing.”

“Of course I am!” Lio sat up. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Meis shrugged. “You’ve never shown much interest in it before. Galo must be some kind of something.”

“He’s fine.” Lio bristled, feeling the need to defend his boyfriend. “He’s nice to me and he makes me feel—” Lio cut off, frowning. “He makes me feel happy, okay? I like him so deal with it.”

“I know. Doesn’t hurt that he’s nice eye candy, does it? Plus, I bet he has a big dick.”

“Why does everyone suddenly want to know the size of my boyfriend’s dick?!” Lio felt himself turning red as Meis laughed. “Let’s just go eat dinner!”

“Okay, okay.”

“And don’t tell Gueira we had this conversation!” Gueira would absolutely never let Lio live this down if he found out.

—————————

Lio stared up at the ceiling in his room that night trying to conjure up some fantasy about Galo, just to prove that he could. They would go back to Galo’s place after a date and make out on his couch. That was good. Then after a lot of kissing, Galo would carry Lio princess-style to his bedroom and Lio would pretend that he didn’t like it. He wondered what kind of bedspread Galo would have and if his room was really that messy. This was Lio’s fantasy, so he settled on a solid blue comforter and let the rest of the room settle into a hazy and indistinct mess.

Okay, so he was on Galo’s bed now and… He’d been living with Meis and Gueira long enough that it wasn’t like he didn’t know how sex between two guys worked. It just seemed awfully messy. Lio let himself skip ahead to the part where they cuddled afterward. Galo would hold Lio in his very nice arms, arms made for hugging really, and he’d pet Lio’s hair until they both fell asleep.

Lio rolled over onto his side and pulled Mr. Tiger under the covers with him. Stupid Meis, Lio thought as he held the plush tiger to his chest. He was into the sex thing. He was.

—————————

Shit. Lio was not into the sex thing.

He sat up and looked at the clock. 4:13 am. Even at this time of night, soft noises drifted in off the street.

Clutching Mr. Tiger even tighter, Lio watched the light as it came in through the cracks in his blinds. How many more dates before Galo wanted to do more than just kiss? What then? Do they just break up? Was every date bringing him closer to the moment when Lio would be expected to do more?

Giving up on sleep for now, Lio grabbed his phone and flipped through the Promepolis Public Library app until he found the latest Hell Fire Boy book. Once he’d digitally checked that out, he settled back into bed to read the further adventures of the Hell Fire Crew in their battle against Southern Cross. After over 20 volumes of the comic, Lio kept hoping the boss of the Hell Fire Crew would kiss his friend the firefighter-turned-fellow-rebel-freedom-fighter, but he was used to being disappointed in this regard.

Still, he felt gratified when, after a tumultuous fight, the boss and the firefighter held hands and laced their fingers together — laced their fingers together! It was almost enough to make him forget his worries.

—————————

Galo pulled up the front of his shirt and used it to wipe his sweat off his face, showing off an expanse of small waist and perfectly toned abs. Lio swallowed. “Hey, you want some water, Lio?”

“What?” Lio thanked the heavens for this unseasonably warm weather and the way Galo’s t-shirt clung to him after their jog.

“Hydration. It’s important!” Galo used his key fob to pop the trunk of his car. Reaching inside, he passed a bottle of water to Lio.

“Thanks.” Lio popped open the water bottle and took a long drink. 

“What happened to your finger?” Galo asked after he finished chugging his own water.

Lio looked down at the bandage. He’d sliced his finger open more than he’d realized the day before. He shrugged. “It’s nothing serious.”

Galo suddenly whirled, grabbed something out of his trunk and thrust it in Lio’s direction. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Lio!!”

Unable to keep from smiling a little, Lio took the gift bag from Galo. “Thanks. Can I open it?”

“Uh, yeah. That’s why I got it for you.” He nudged Lio with his elbow. “Go on.”

Carefully, Lio pushed the tissue paper out of the way to reveal a small stuffed red panda. Lio lifted it up out of the gift bag. “It’s so cute. I love red pandas.”

“I know. I saw your key chain!” Galo grinned, pleased with Lio’s reaction. “You act very cool, but you really just love cute animals!”

“Maybe a little.” Smiling shyly, Lio held the red panda close — his first present from Galo.

“It’s a friend for your tiger! So he doesn’t have to be lonely.”

Lio ducked his head, feeling himself blush for no reason. “Thank you.”

Galo threw and arm around Lio’s shoulders and kissed the top of his head. “You’re welcome. Sorry we can’t actually go out and do anything tonight. Stupid studying.”

“That’s okay. Your grades are important. We’ll do something this weekend.”

“You’re still not going to tell me what this secret date is?” Galo asked.

“Nope.” Lio stepped out of Galo’s arm. “I brought something for you though.”

“Really?” Galo bounced excitedly on the balls of his feet.

“It’s not much so don’t get your hopes up.” Lio retrieved his bag out of Galo’s trunk and withdrew the white box. “Here.”

Without hesitation, Galo opened the box up. His eyes went wide when he saw the chocolate tart inside. Lio had made a stencil and dusted the tart with powdered sugar in a heart shape to finish it off last night. Gueira had given him a lot of crap for that, but he wanted to do something even a little romantic. 

“Did you make this?” Galo asked in awe.

“Yeah.”

“You put a heart on it.” Galo’s voice was still low and reverent.

Lio hadn’t exactly been expecting this reaction. “I did.”

“It’s great! It’s perfect! I really like it!” Galo set the box back inside the trunk so he could hug Lio and swing him around in a circle.

“Hey! Put me down!” Lio laughed.

Galo obliged and bent down to kiss Lio. “Thank you. No one’s ever made me chocolate for Valentine’s Day before! It feels really good!”

Lio suddenly regretted not insisting on doing something for Valentine’s Day if simple chocolates made Galo this happy. “Glad you like it.”

“Hey, want to go have a Valentine’s make out session before work?” Galo grinned widely.

“I—” Lio reached up to run his fingers along Galo’s jaw. “Actually, can we go for a walk together and hold hands? I’ve never had anyone hold hands with me on Valentine’s Day.”

“Yeah. I’ll hold hands with you whenever you want.” Galo offered his hand to Lio.

Even though Galo’s hand was sweaty in his own and Lio was still wearing his workout ensemble, the two of them walked hand in hand through one of the small parks that dotted Promepolis. Galo patted every dog they came across, declaring all of them good boys. Years into the future, Lio would probably never be able to remember whatever they talked about, none of it was important, but he hoped he’d always remember the way Galo smiled at him and the way his hand fit perfectly into Galo’s hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew, this chapter took me a long time! The average chapter length keeps creeping up too. Thanks to everyone who has been sticking around even though my update speed has slowed down. Your comments mean a lot to me!
> 
> Lio and his 4 am self-revelations. And reading shounen manga to deal. （￣︶￣）↗ 
> 
> I don’t see a lot of fic with asexual characters in them. So, uh, hope people don’t mind. I didn’t bring up Jerome in this chapter because I didn’t want to make it seem like Lio is asexual due to trauma (he’s not).
> 
> Also, I hope Aina doesn’t come off too poorly in this chapter… Galo really needs someone to look out for him too.
> 
> Next time: What are Lio’s secret date plans? Will the Hell Fire Boy ever kiss the firefighter?


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lio takes Galo on a secret date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes, the world stinks you just want to write nice dates (which involve robots)

“Will you tell me what the secret date is now?” Galo asked as he brought his bike to a stop. Lio had entered the parking lot across from Riverside Park into Galo’s phone without giving him any other details of the location. 

Lio removed his helmet and passed it to Galo. “Not yet.”

“Can I guess?”

“If you want.” Lio shrugged. No matter how many times he tried, Galo would never be able to guess the secret date plans.

“We’re going to feed the ducks.” Galo engulfed Lio’s hand with own, palm warm and slightly rough.

“No. Unfortunately, bread is bad for ducks.” Lio took the lead, guiding the way across the street and into the park proper. Lio took one last look back at Galo’s motorcycle as they left the lot. Today was the day — he was going to ask Galo to let him test his bike.

“What?” Galo’s face dropped. “I love feeding ducks. I feel so betrayed.”

“It’s just empty calories for them. Nothing that bad.” Lio squeezed Galo’s hand reassuringly.

“Oh, that’s okay then!” Galo grinned and squeezed Lio’s hand back. “I eat empty calories all the time!”

“Pizza isn’t empty. It’s good for your heart.”

Galo laughed. “Yeah! You get me, Lio.”

Like its name suggested, Riverside Park followed along the Parnassus River as it cut through Promepolis. As one of the older parks in the city, it was graced with old, graceful deciduous trees, man-made ponds with ducks and geese, a traditional English garden and many long, green lawns. Then there were the newer additions to the park such as the slide made to look like a giant, overturned ice cream cone, the geometric statues that were supposed to depict Promepolis through the years and the gray concrete Riverside Events Center, the top of which was visible over the trees. Lio meandered in that direction, making sure to pass by the ducks as Galo guessed increasingly outlandish dates.

“We’re going to sword fight and then we’ll power a mech together!” Galo suggested.

“I don’t know how to sword fight.” Lio shook his head. “Or power a mech for that matter.”

“What, you didn’t take fencing at that fancy rich kid school?”

“No fencing, just archery.”

“Seriously?” Galo asked, eyes wide.

“Yeah. In retrospect, I’m surprised they let a bunch of high schoolers play with arrows.” Lio shrugged. 

“Can you shoot an arrow through an arrow?”

“I think that’s a myth. No one can do that.”

“Can you shoot three arrows at one time?”

“What?” Lio asked flatly. “Is that even possible?”

Galo looked around at the flow of pedestrians, most of which were generally headed in the direction of the event center. “You’re taking me to something at the park event center.”

“That’s not a guess if we’re practically there.” Lio pointed out.

A few yards later, Galo stopped abruptly, pulling Lio to a halt as well, their hands still interconnected. He stared up at the bright signage around the entrance to the event center. “Lio! You got us tickets to the Clash-bots finals?”

Lio smiled. “I might have a connection to one of the competitors.”

“I used to watch this on youtube all the time!” Galo exclaimed, bouncing on his feet. “Wow…! I’ve never been to it in person though.”

“Hold on, I need my hand back so I text my connection.” Lio unlinked his hand from Galo’s and retrieved his phone from his jacket pocket. He sent a brief text. “She should be here soon.”

“So who’s your favorite Clash-bots team, Lio?” Galo had a permanent grin affixed to his face. “I’ve always been a fan of the Foresight Freezers.”

“You’re a Freezers fan?” Lio asked incredulously.

“They always have the coolest bots!”

“That’s because they have all that Foresight Foundation money! You’re not supposed to root for them, you’re supposed to root for the underdogs!” 

Galo took Lio’s hand and swung his arm back and forth, still smiling. “You’re pretty into this, huh?”

“I can’t believe my boyfriend is a Freezers fan…” Lio muttered.

“Look what the cat dragged in.” A voice interrupted them and a small fist punched Lio in the shoulder.

“Lucia!” Galo beamed at her. “You’re Lio’s connection.”

“Galo Thymos. Long time no see, my man.” Lucia punched Galo in the shoulder to even everything out. She wore a black t-shirt with hot pink lettering that read ‘The Luciadores’ with a pink bomber jacket. “The store is so quiet without you. And Lio pines.”

“I do not.” Lio crossed his arms.

“I miss you guys too! I should come visit.”

Lucia handed both of them a lanyard with a plastic Clash-bots badge attached. “Follow me. I promised Lio I’d take you backstage.”

“Backstage?!” Galo looked about ready to vibrate into another dimension with excitement. 

“Don’t touch anything.” Lucia warned as she turned and, instead of taking them in through the main entrance, lead them over to a side door marked ‘Contestants Only’. A security person at the door took in their badges and nodded them through. On the other side, a noisy and bustling garage bay met them, crammed full of contestants at benches doing last minute fixes on their fighting bots. 

Galo looked around, eyes glittering with excitement. “This is cool! This is so cool!”

Lio smiled to himself at Galo’s energy. He’d come to some Clash-bots matches to support Lucia with Gueira and Meis before, but maybe Galo wasn’t as enthusiastic about fighting robots as his roommates. When he’d brought it up with Lucia, she’d scoffed at the idea that anyone would be bored by robots and offered him free VIP tickets with one minor condition.

“Want to see my baby?” Lucia asked, grinning broadly. She turned and led the way back through the various work stations.

“Wait— You’re telling me you’re competing?!” Galo’s mouth dropped in astonishment.

Lucia gestured to the logo on her shirt. “You bet I am.”

“How long have you been doing this?” Galo trailed after her, his neck craning as he tried to take in everything at once.

“Used to do this with my dad back in high school, but now I have my own team.” She stopped in front of one work station attended by two other women who look to be in their 20s. “The Luciadores! The first all girls team in the Promepolis Clash-bots League.”

Lucia’s team mates looked up — a mousy looking girl who looked vaguely familiar to Lio and a tall girl with glasses. “Yo, Luce, these your friends?” The tall girl asked.

“Galo, Lio.” Lucia pointed at each of them in turn. “Mae.” She gestured at tall girl. “And Thyma.” She finished by indicating mousy girl. The name clicked in Lio’s head and he recognized her as grande vanilla soy latte.

Mae somewhat covertly eye Galo through her glasses. “You didn’t tell me your friends were attractive.”

“That’s my boyfriend.” An unexpected surge of possessiveness struck Lio and he took Galo’s arm. Completely oblivious, Galo grinned at Lio as he felt a hand slide around his forearm.

“Thymos. Let me give you the specs.” Lucia patted the hunk of metal on the work table.

“Yes! I need the specs!” Galo exclaimed eagerly.

The conversation immediately turned technical and far over Lio’s head. Galo nodded as if he followed everything Lucia was going on about and even asked questions that seemed to use the correct jargon. Lio had to remind himself that Galo had been fixing up his motorcycle and was more than passably knowledgeable about this kind of thing. He wasn’t used to feeling like the ignorant one in a conversation.

Frowning, Lio tried not to let that, or the face that Galo had temporarily forgotten him, sour his mood and turned his attention to admiring the actual bot itself. He’d seen the pink, purple and red painted machine inside the arena before, but never up close before. It was bigger up close and had a large blade on the front. He’d seen the kind of damage it could do once that blade was spinning.

“Hey, can I talk to you for a sec?” Lucia asked as Thyma entertained Galo by explaining the controls for the robot.

“Yeah, sure.”

Whatever Lucia wanted to talk about, she made Lio step away until the general noise of the room meant they wouldn’t be overhead. “You can’t tell anyone this. At all. Okay, Lio?”

He nodded his agreement to this condition.

“Aina made me chocolate for Valentine’s Day.” Lucia crossed her arms.

“Oh.” The supposed friendship tart. “Did you tell her you don’t date?”

“I’ve told her that before.” Lucia frowned. “It’s not her. I don’t date anyone! I’m not interested in romance or any of the rest of the mess that goes with it.”

“I know.” Lio sighed. He should have realized.

“We need to introduce her to someone nice. Someone who isn’t me.”

“And where do you propose we find someone like that?” Lio had the distinct feeling he was going to get drawn into something stupid and complicated.

Lucia gestured toward their work station where Galo leaned over Thyma to look at the controller for the robot.

“Galo?”

“No! Thyma!” Lucia scoffed. “She isn’t coming by the store all the time to look at me.”

Lio gave Thyma an appraising eye. She was cute, he guessed. “Sure. So how are you proposing we get Aina to take an interest in her?”

“I don’t know. That’s why I’m recruiting you!” Lucia gave him a hopeful thumbs up which Lio did not return. “You’re gay. You must like meddling in people’s love lives.”

“I can barely manage my own love life, but thank you for the stereotype.” Lio grumbled. He heaved a sighed. “If you want people that really enjoy being annoying and meddling, you should talk to my roommates.”

Lio regretted saying it as soon as it escaped his mouth as Lucia lit up. “You’re right.” She cackled. “Thanks, Lio.”

“No… Lucia…” If Lio’s roommates got involved, this was soon to become his problem. “Leave them out of this please.”

Lucia flashed and impish grin before skipping away to join her team at their workstation. Lio pulled his phone out and texted Gueira.

Lio: Block Lucia’s number

Gueira: Y? shes funny boss

Lio: Just do it.

Gueira: Did she get cute photoes of u?

Gueira: I need those

Gueira: For black mail

Lio pocketed his phone again, frowning. Every time he tried to get out of this, he only seemed to dig himself in deeper. Maybe it was just his fate to suffer.

“Galo, did you want to get some refreshments before the show starts?” Lio asked as he rejoined the group.

“Snacks! Yes!” Galo waved to the team. He turned to Thyma who seemed utterly overwhelmed by the attention from Galo. “Thanks for showing me around.”

“Galo.” Lucia threw a bright pink wad of fabric at him which he caught easily.

Unfolding it, he held up a Luciadores t-shirt. “What? This is so cool!” Without any preamble, Galo pulled off the t-shirt he was wearing. Lio felt his face heat up. He wanted to look away in embarrassment, but there was no way he was letting the ladies of The Luciadores out-stare him at his own boyfriend. He definitely saw Mae staring with a smirk, but Thyma looked even more red than Lio felt.

Galo pulled The Luciadores shirt on. Lucia had perfectly guessed Galo’s size — it fit Galo in an attractively snug way. “Lio, where’s your shirt?”

Lio undid the zip on his hoodie to reveal his pink Luciadores shirt.

“Okay, here’s your sign.” Lucia handed a pink poster board to Lio. “Now skedaddle, we got work to do.”

“Thanks. Good luck.” Lio looked over the sign. Gold glitter marked the lettering which read ‘Go Luciadores!’with a pen drawing of cartoon Lucia courtesy Guiera. He had helped Lio make it two nights ago and he’d passed it off to Lucia to take to the match so Galo wouldn’t suspect anything.

“Yeah, good luck!” Galo added. “I’ll cheer for you!”

“Make sure they put you in the VIP seats!” Lucia called after them as they left for front. “And remember our deal!”

“What’s the deal?” Galo asked as they weaved between work stations.

“I told her we’d kiss for the camera if they win their match.” Lio admitted with some embarrassment. “She’s says it’ll help them recruit new team members if cute boys kiss. I don’t entirely understand that logic.”

“I hope they win then! I want to kiss you.” Suddenly, Galo grabbed Lio’s arm and pointed. “Look! It’s the Foresight Freezers!”

Lio stopped in his tracks and stared at them, looking over the competition. The Freezers’ bot was sleek and metallic with gold and blue detailing. Tiny white lights blink along the sides.

“I wonder if we can go talk to them.” Galo stood up on his tiptoes to get a better vantage point.

“They’ll probably just think we’re spying.” Lio commented dryly. 

“Oh.” Galo sagged a little. “Maybe next time.”

Once they made it out to the front, Galo insisted on paying for popcorn and a beverage despite Lio protesting that it was his turn to pay. “Then I don’t have to feel bad if I eat most of it!” Galo responded cheerily.

Galo easily found them a spot in the VIP section, usually reserved for people who had paid more for better seats or friends and family of the contestants. With his added height, Galo had advantage in a situation like this. “How’d you know Lucia was into Clash-bots?” Galo asked as they sat on metal bleachers.

“She’s mentioned it before. I talked her into giving me tickets for Gueira’s birthday last year.” Lio took a handful of popcorn. 

“Geez, I can’t believe I didn’t know she did this! This is so cool!” Galo looked around in excitement.

Lio stood up to check the electronic board over the arena showing the line up for the day’s fights. A thick plastic wall separated them from the arena, in case of any flying robot parts during the fight. The arena itself was a smooth square of concrete with the Clash-bots logo painted in the center.

“So you and Lucia are friends, huh?” Galo asked as Lio sat back down.

“She calls us Smol Squad.”

Galo laughed. “I like it! Because both of you two are short!”

“Lucia helped me study for my GED.” Lio admitted.

“Oh. Huh.” Galo paused to take a drink of their shared drink. “I didn’t think about that, but I guess you didn’t graduate from high school, huh?”

“Nope.”

“That doesn’t seem fair.” Galo frowned. “You’re smart. You should be going to university.”

Lio reached over and took Galo’s hand. It was covered in popcorn butter and salt, but warm as always. “I’d rather be here than back home.”

Galo grinned and leaned over to kiss the side of Lio’s hair. “Hey! You know what?”

“What?” Lio asked suspiciously.

“I’m glad you’re here too.”

Lio leaned closer kissed Galo lightly on the lips. Galo cupped Lio’s jaw and went in for a second kiss, much more fervent than the first. After a long moment, Lio pulled back. “We should save that for when Lucia wins the match.”

“Yeah!” Galo bounced in his seat. He opened his mouth to say something else, but was cut off by a cheer when the announcers took their seats at their box.

The excitement of the crowd swept the two of them up, but Lio felt his heart soar just enjoying something together with Galo. For the first several rounds, they shouted their way through non-championship match ups. Galo hissed sympathetically when one bot took a particularly violent hit from the hammer of another. Lio laughed when one bot managed to completely torch its opponent with flamethrower that shot green fire. Maybe Lio couldn’t list off all the technical details of the battling robots, but that wouldn’t stop him from watching them smash each other up.

After a short intermission, the final two matches started. These bouts would decide who would go on to the championships. The first fight was a grueling match that ended up going to the judges who ruled in favor of the team called Wild Child.

“And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for… fan favorites The Luciadores versus the everlasting Foresight Freezers!!” the announcer called out. The crowd burst into clapping, screaming and the occasional whistle. “Can David take down Goliath? Or will the Freezers sweep the competition again this year?”

“Lucia!!” Lio shouted, waving his sign. He doubted she could hear, but he hoped she’d spot the sign out in the crowd.

Galo leaned closer and said something to Lio, but it was swallowed up by the cheers of the crowd.

“What?!” Lio shouted back.

Galo frowned and shook his head, mouthing something that could have been, “Later!”

“They leave their opponents frozen in their tracks… The Foresight Freezers!” The Foresight team had seven members, all of which posed with finger guns for the camera.

“Get ‘em, Lucia!” Lio shouted. “Take ‘em down!”

“These girls are made of sugar and spice and everything fight… The Luciadores!!” Lucia and the rest of her team flexed their arms in an imitation of Rosie the Riveter.

The crowd went wild. Tension hung in the air as both teams took up their positions at the side of the arena, safe behind the thick wall of glass. The countdown to the start of the match began, people chanting for their team. With a resounding buzz, the match started.

Lio shouted and cheered as the Freezers bot took on the cobbled together Luciadores bot. Thyma had the controls for their bot and, from his angle, Lio could see her face tight with concentration. Sparks flew whenever the Luciadores’ spinning blade connected with Freezers. For the first half of the match, the two appeared evenly matched but then the Luciadores blade struck the Freezers and knocked off a chunk of its armor. The Freezers went on the defensive, but just before the buzzer, the Luciadores got in the last blow and the Freezers bot went immobile. With seconds left on the clock, the umpire counted the Freezers out of the match.

“She did it!” Lio turned to Galo.

He grinned back. “That was so cool!”

Lio checked that at least one of the camera people had focused on the audience before standing on his tiptoes and pressing his lips against Galo’s. 

“Do you think that was enough kissing for Lucia?” Galo asked with a smile. They kissed a few more times, just for good measure.

After the match, Lio and Galo tried to get over to Lucia, but admirers surrounded her while she gave an interview. She seemed oblivious to the two of them hovering at the edge of the crowd. In the end, Lio texted her to congratulate her and let her know they’d talk at the store tomorrow. They left the events center hand in hand.

“Lio Fotia, where are you taking me?” Galo asked as they wandered the sidewalks of Riverside Park. The slightly chill morning had turned into a pleasant afternoon. The two of them were not the only ones strolling through the park holding hands.

“Just walking.” Lio kept his eyes on the lawns between paths.

“Nuh-uh. You’re looking for something.”

Lio tugged Galo’s hand, pulling him off the path. “I’m looking for the perfect tree.”

They hiked up a gently sloping hill to a tall oak tree. Lio pulled a blanket out of his backpack and spread it out in the shade of the tree. 

“Is this part two of your date surprise?” Galo flopped down on the blanket.

“Maybe.” Lio pulled out some cheap plastic food containers. Galo sat up, his eyes going wide. For some reason, Lio felt nervous as he opened up the first container.

“Rice balls! You made rice balls!” Galo exclaimed.

“Yeah.” Lio’s cheeks started to heat up from Galo’s enthusiasm. He opened up the other containers to reveal tofu cutlets coated in an egg and green onion mixture, skewers of cherry tomato and cheese, steamed broccoli and apples cut to have rabbit ears. “Aina said you liked Japanese culture stuff so I made, um, a bento. But I don’t have cute dishes like in the pictures.”

“It’s too cute to eat.”

“Please eat it. I spent a lot of time on this.” Between researching recipes and looking at instagram photos of bento, much of the last week had been taken up with planning this meal. That didn’t even include how early Lio had gotten up that morning to make everything.

Galo accepted a pair of chopsticks from Lio. “Hold on, I need to take pictures. I want to remember this forever!”

“You don’t need to take pictures!” Lio’s embarrassment rose with each photograph Galo took on his phone.

Galo grinned as he continued to take pictures. “Thank you, Lio. I like it a lot! I didn’t think you could top the Clash-bots match, but you did it somehow.”

“Thanks.” Lio muttered.

“Can I eat it?” Galo asked as he sat close enough to Lio that their legs touched.

“Please.”

Without further hesitation, Galo enthusiastically tore into the meal. “Apple rabbits. I always wanted to try these.”

Lio nibbled on some of the tofu.

“I want to cook for you next time. What’s romantic and vegetarian? Is pasta romantic?” Galo asked between bites.

“I like pasta.”

“I’ll make the most romantic pasta ever.” Galo boasted loudly. “Hey, this tofu is really good!”

Lio turned to Galo. “You were trying to tell me something before Lucia’s match started.”

“Oh… Just that I almost didn’t know who to root for. The Foresight Freezers have been my favorite team for a long time. The Foresight Foundation has done a lot of good in the world! But—” Galo pointed at his pink shirt. “I gotta root for Lucia, right?”

Lio played with one of the toothpicks from a tomato skewer. What was with Galo and the Foresight Foundation? They could do some good in the world, and help Lio out personally, if Kray Foresight paid Lio’s roommates more to work in his terrible warehouse. Foresight had more money than he could spend in a lifetime, it made no difference if he occasionally spent it saving whales or whatever.

“Think our kiss made it on the stream?” Galo perked up. “I bet it did. And now they’re going to have to add a kiss cam just because our kiss was that good.”

“Don’t flatter yourself.” Lio shoved Galo lightly in the arm, happy to let the topic of conversation change. “I don’t even know if that makes it into the top 10 of our kisses as a couple.”

“You have a Top 10 Kisses?!”

The conversation meandered to unimportant topics: cute dogs walking by with their humans (Galo was very enthusiastic about all of them), Smokey (Galo showed Lio a scratch on his arm but swore that they were buddies now), the warm spring weather (Galo liked the sun but had never actually been to the ocean) and the furthest they’d ever traveled from Promepolis (Galo had once been to Canada but wanted to visit Japan some day). 

When Galo consumed the last rice ball, he leaned back on the picnic blanket, closing his eyes and patting his stomach appreciatively. “I’m so full. Just roll me home from here, Lio.”

Lio picked a couple blades of grass and tickled Galo’s nose.

“Some little bug keeps flapping around my nose. Tell the bug that I’m digesting.” Galo wrinkled his nose, but didn’t open his eyes. “And I’m very content right now.”

Fine, if that didn’t get Galo to pay attention to him, Lio would try a different tactic. Gently, Lio ran his fingers through Galo’s hair, smoothing out the front of his mohawk against his forehead. Galo smiled, making a happy noise at the back of his throat. With Galo’s eyes closed, Lio could study Galo’s face without any teasing.

“Galo.”

“Hm?” Galo still didn’t open his eyes.

“You’re kind of my first real boyfriend.” Lio admitted quietly. Galo did open his eyes at that, looking up at Lio with his blue eyes. “And you’re definitely my first boyfriend who didn’t act like I was a secret.”

“Lio—” Galo started but Lio silenced him with a finger against his lips.

“Let me finish or I’ll change my mind about saying this.” Lio warned.

Galo whispered. “Okay.” 

“I don’t know what I’m doing, but it’s nice. And-” Lio took a deep breath, keeping his finger to Galo’s lips. “I like you a lot.”

Galo smiled, a slight flush climbing into his cheeks. 

“But about that other word… Next time you try to say it to me, I want to be in a place where I can accept your feelings. Right now, I don’t think I can.” Lio removed his finger. “So wait for me for a little while, please?”

Galo sat up and pulled Lio into a hug. “I’ll wait for you until the very end.”

Lio ducked his head, smiling slightly into Galo’s shoulder. “I’ll try not to make you wait that long.”

After a long pause, Galo asked. “Since you’re my boyfriend now, is it still weird if I think you smell good?”

Lio laughed a little. “It’s cheap shampoo we get from the discount grocery store. It’s rose water and chamomile.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Cheap shampoo, no mystery.”

Almost reluctantly, Galo released Lio. “You want to lay down and look at the clouds with me?”

“Okay.”

Using one arm bent behind his head for a pillow, Galo leaned back on the blanket and stretched his other arm out perpendicular to his body. Lio joined Galo, using his arm for a pillow. As Lio had suspected, Galo’s arm made for a very nice pillow. A tree root poked into his back, so he scooted closer to Galo until he was comfortable. Galo didn’t comment as Lio pressed into his side, only smiled at him.

“That cloud definitely looks like Smokey.” Galo bent his arm at the elbow to point out a cloud. “Those’re the ears and that’s the tail.”

“Those small clouds next to him are Smokey’s cat treats.” Lio added. The ground felt cold against him, but Galo radiated enough warmth to drive any chill away.

“That’s Smokey wearing a fireman’s hat, ‘cause I’m going to teach him to be a firehouse cat.”

“I see.” Lio smiled in spite of himself.

Galo pointed out increasingly silly clouds as he wove a tale about teaching Smokey to become a firefighter. “And that’s us rescuing an entire building full of kittens together.”

“Galo… Didn’t you say you had a study group tonight?” Lio asked, somewhat reluctant to even bring up the topic. “I shouldn’t keep you from that.”

“Yeah, but—” Galo made a face.

“Your grades are important!” Lio sat up, suddenly stern. “Up!”

“Okay, okay.” Galo sat up as well, pouting. “You better be proud of my grades after all this studying.”

Together, they folded up the blanket and Lio replaced everything into his backpack. Even if Galo looked slightly sullen about ending their date, he cheered up when Lio slipped his hand into Galo’s larger hand. They walked out of the park together back to Galo’s motorcycle.

As the beautiful, black bike loomed it view, Lio took a deep breath. Now or never. Aina told him Galo had never let any of his other boyfriends drive his bike. So this was it, this was the test.

“Galo.” Lio’s heart felt tight in his chest.

Galo squeezed his hand. “Yeah? You’re looking serious all of a sudden.”

Lio stared at their hands clasped together.

“Lio?” Galo turned to him, worried.

“What is essential is invisible to the eye.”

Galo started at him. “What? Is that poetry again?”

“No, it’s The Little Prince. ‘It is very simple. It is only with the heart that one can see clearly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.’”

Galo looked at Lio suspiciously, as if liking books were something strange. “I’ve never read that book before.”

“It was my favorite when I was young.”

“Sounds complicated. What does it mean?”

“It means-” Lio stepped closer to Galo, wrapping his arms around the taller man. “I had a very nice time today. I don’t want our date to end.”

“It doesn’t have to?” Galo sounded hopeful.

“You’re not getting out of your study group!”

“But—-! ”

Lio always said that no one could catch him unless he wanted them to. He was good at running and good at outsmarting people. But maybe, Lio thought, Galo had caught him and tamed him. Just a little. He didn’t need a motorcycle, he only needed Galo to hold his hand and that was enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy digital release day! (I'm a little late....)
> 
> Hey, who knew this thing was going to make it to ten chapters? NOT ME
> 
> I started this back in November because I really needed an outlet to talk about how much I loved Promare that wasn’t boring all my friends with me talking about it. Originally, I’d planned to end this at the end of the Christmas arc, but I’m having too much fun writing and I feel too attached to this AU to let it go. Thank you so much for everyone who has supported this story so far and all your comments mean so much to me.
> 
> Ten chapters in, Kray Foresight (kind of) makes an appearance… Don’t worry, I didn’t forget about Big Daddy Kray.
> 
> Next time: Will The Luciadores win the Clash-bots tournament? What is the deal with Galo and the Foresight Foundation?


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Due to a cut back in hours, Lio switches to Galo’s store

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY FIRST ANNIVERSARY, PROMARE!!!
> 
> cw: flu epidemic, illness
> 
> My intention is for this to be a story about people taking care of each other during tough times, but if any mention of The Current Times stresses you out, then please take care of yourself! This chapter deals pretty explicitly with illness!

Lio tied his apron before going out front to start his shift. Everything felt the same, but a little different than normal — like he’d entered a universe two steps to the left of his usual. In actuality, he had just picked up some extra shifts at a different store.

“Lio!” Galo waved excitedly from the till when Lio stepped out front.

Lio waved back.

“So you’re the infamous Lio.” A girl commented. Lio read the name badge attached to her apron — it said ‘Tiff’. Perhaps that was even her real name. Lio’s name badge said ‘Antoni’ on it.

“That’s me. Infamous Lio Fotia.” Lio turned the faucet on and started singing Happy Birthday (twice) in his head.

“Galo talks about you all the time. Literally all the time.” Her curly ponytail bobbed as she talked. “I wish I was joking, but I’m not. You’re shorter than I was expecting.”

“What were you expecting?” Lio dried off his hands.

“I don’t know. There’s at least a foot of height difference between the two of you.” Tiff glanced between Lio and Galo at the register.

“It’s not a whole foot.” Lio muttered.

“Ah, the infamous Lio.” Varys held his fist up for a fist bump, thought better of it, and offered his elbow. “Let me show you the ropes.”

Lio glared at Galo’s back. What had he been telling everyone and why did the keep calling him infamous??

Time passed slowly as customers trickled in. Galo’s store nestled neatly between several blocks of shopping and several blocks of offices — on a normal day, office workers and shoppers would have been stopping in for coffee or lunch. Times were not normal as panic over the flu epidemic ramped up. People weren’t going into the office and no one ventured out for high end shopping these days.

“Did you hear someone at the Promepolis Coffee Co location on First and Spruce was diagnosed with the virus?” a customer gossiped with their friend while they waited for their drink.

“No way. That’s so close!”

Lio put their drinks up on the bar and they left, continuing to talk in hushed voices. Almost any conversation he overheard in the store that day centered around the flu epidemic and the recent spike in locally diagnosed cases. 

Between bites of bagel and sous vide egg bits on his lunch break, Lio checked his phone to see if the daily cases of flu epidemic had been updated. He couldn’t afford to get sick. He couldn’t afford the cut back in hours caused by the lack of customers in the store. 

“This brings back some memories. Want to see a cat video?” Galo slid into the seat next to him in the break room.

“What have you been telling everyone about me?” Lio turned to him, his annoyance returning.

Galo’s smile took on a sheepish tone. “Only how great you are! Nothing bad, I promise.”

“Then what’s with that expression?”

“Varys may have started fining me a nickel for each time I brought you up, because he was tired of listening to me talk about you.” Galo scratched the back of his head. “So there you have it, I’ve turned into one of those people who talks about the boy they’re dating too much.”

Lio stared at his bagel with all his might, not sure how to react to this bit of information. He’d hated people like that in high school. He didn’t hate it so much when it as Galo.

“I’ve been looking forward to this since Varys said you were coming to help out. Reminds you of how we met, right?” Galo popped open the lid on a container of edamame he’d brought from home. He offered the container to Lio. “Want some?” 

Lio took a few and popped them into his mouth. “Thanks.”

“I don’t know how you eat store food all the time.” Galo commented as he opened up a plastic container of a chicken and broccoli dish. “And those egg things are weird.”

“I only had a banana for breakfast and I’m hungry.” Lio bit into one of the sous vide eggs to prove his point. “Didn’t you have a cat video to show me?”

“Oh yeah. I found this instagram where the guy takes his cat out on walks and it’s nothing but this guy walking around with his cat on a leash while the cat sniffs at things! It’s very cute.”

Lio leaned against Galo while he found the right instagram feed on his phone. For once, Galo took the hint and looped an arm over Lio’s shoulders once he started the video playing. “You should send me the link later.”

“Yeah!”

“How’s Smoky?” Lio asked as the video ended.

Galo’s face lit up with excitement. “He sat on my lap! I was afraid to breath or move in case I startled him, but I think he liked it.”

“He blessed you with his presence.” Lio smiled.

“He did! I wanted to take a picture and show you, but I was too scared to move. Sometimes he lets me scratch between his ears and he purrs. We’re buddies now, I told you.”

“Good. He’s lucky to have someone to take care of him.”

“That’s what the vet said too. I get sad thinking about an old man like him living out on the streets. He just wants a warm place to put his fuzzy little body.” Galo selected a new cat video to play on his phone. “Besides, it gets kind of lonely at my place all by myself.”

What did someone as good as Galo see in someone like Lio? he wondered. He reached up to take the hand of the arm Galo’s had draped over his shoulder.

“What’s up?” Galo asked. “You look worried.”

“Things are weird right now.” Lio tightened his grip on Galo’s hand. “You’re being careful, right?”

“Of course I am!” Galo held out his free hand to Lio. “See? I’ve been washing my hands so much there isn’t any moisture left in them.”

“Ugh. Me too.”

“Besides, idiots don’t get sick.” Galo grinned reassuringly at Lio.

Lio frowned. “I don’t think that’s how it works. Besides, you’re not—” Lio mumbled the next words “—an idiot.”

“Huh? What’d you say, Lio? I think I got something in my ear.” Galo pretended to clean out his ear with one finger.

“I don’t think you’re an idiot.” Lio repeated, less quiet this time. He glared at Galo, challenging him to disagree.

Galo straightened up a bit in his chair, looking pleased. “You’re the only person I know who can say something nice while looking angry about it.”

Varys stuck his head in the back room. “Just wanted to make sure there was no canoodling going on back here.”

Galo took his arm from Lio’s shoulder. “Only canoodle adjacent!” 

—————————

“Nostalgic, right?” Galo commented as pulled his jacket around himself. A thin gray drizzle fell from the sky and both of them stood under the overhang in front of the store together. “Hanging out with me after the store closes.”

“Yeah.” Lio agreed quietly. “I miss having you at the store.”

“Soon it’ll be spring break. We should go do something together.” Galo held his hand out and Lio let himself get pulled into a hug. Galo rested his chin on top of Lio’s head.

“Like what?”

“We could take a trip together! Do you like hiking?” Galo asked cheerily.

Lio frowned. “I’m not into sleeping in a tent.”

“Or! What about the beach? We could rent a beach house together.” 

“I still can’t believe you’ve lived in Promepolis your whole life and you’ve never been to the ocean.” Lio doubted they’d be able to find an available beach house to rent on such short notice. He frowned as he thought about sharing a hotel room or anything with Galo — certainly he’d have expectations. He took a step back from Galo.

“What’s wrong?” Galo asked as soon as Lio backed out of his arms.

Lio picked at his sleeve before answering. “I hope you don’t think I’m leading you on, but… I’m not ready for that, for sex, yet.”

“Oh.” Galo’s eyes widened as he realized the implications of his suggestion. “Ohhh. Geez, I didn’t even think about that. Much! It’s fine, it’s cool, it’s okay. Lio, I will wait for you until you are ready!” Galo ended his ramble on a loud declaration.

“Don’t shout.” Lio’s cheeks felt red. “Indoor voice.”

“But we’re outdoors.” Galo protested.

“I’m right here though.” Lio tugged at Galo’s jacket to remind him of their proximity. One day, he’d tell Galo that he wasn’t certain he’d ever be ready for sex, but he couldn’t quite face Galo’s reaction to that yet.

“Oh yeah. Sorry. Guess I got too excited.” Galo scratched at the back of his head. He coughed and tried to cover it with clearing his throat.

Lio narrowed his eyes.

“I’m fine! Don’t glare at me.” 

“If you get sick, I’m not coming over to make you chicken noodle soup.” Lio scolded.

Galo laughed. “Sure, you’d make veggie noodle soup.”

“I wouldn’t make you anything. I’d call you and yell at you for getting sick in the first place.” Lio kept his expression serious. “So you better rest tonight and not stay up too late studying.”

“I will.” Galo sighed. “But you have to let your roommates take care of you so you don’t get sick.”

“Meis is making dinner tonight, so that’s a deal.” Lio held his hand out and they shook on it.

Galo grinned. “I’m going to text Gueira to make sure you relax.”

“That’s not fair.” Lio withdrew his hand. “I’ll text Smoky and make him sit on you.”

“You’ve discovered one weakness. Small, cute things.”

“If you call me—”

“There’s your ride, Lio.” Galo feigned innocence.

“Galo.” Lio tugged on the front of Galo’s jacket. “Bend down.” Galo obliged and Lio gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Galo turned his head so he could catch Lio’s lips with his own. “Take care of yourself. I’m serious.”

Galo smiled as he reassured Lio. “Don’t worry! I won’t get sick.” 

—————————

“We’re a man short. Galo’s out sick.” Varys’ kept his voice low even though Lio was the only other person in the back room.

“What?” Lio’s stomach dropped.

“He was coughing so I sent him home.”

“Oh.” Lio had brought some oranges to share with Galo.

“He’s a tough kid. He’ll be fine.” Varys clapped Lio on the shoulder before returning to the front.

For some reason, Lio couldn’t figure out how to tie his apron.

—————————

“He says the doctor doesn’t think it’s the virus.” Lio gripped his phone tightly in his hands, waiting for Galo’s next text. “There aren’t enough tests anyway and he hasn’t come into contact with anyone that’s been diagnosed so he’s just supposed to stay home.”

“You’re gonna crack your phone screen if you hold it like that.” Gueira commented, seated next to him on the couch. He squeezed Lio’s shoulders. “You’re so damn tense.”

“Of course I’m tense, my boyfriend could have the virus!” Lio bristled.

“Statistically unlikely.” Meis commented from the kitchen.

“Do you think viruses care about statistics?!”

“Comments from the peanut gallery not really appreciated right now.” Gueira said warningly. Meis shrugged and went back to putting together dinner. Clicking his tongue, Gueira returned to rubbing Lio’s shoulders. 

Lio made an unhappy noise. He didn’t want to relax. He wanted to worry about Galo. “He’s all alone. He doesn’t have anyone to take care of him.”

“I know.” Gueira continued to rub Lio’s shoulders. “I’m worried about him too. I hate to admit it, but I like the guy.”

“I’m going to remind you of that next time you start threatening to break his fingers.” Lio muttered.

Gueira huffed a short laugh. “That’s different. I can like a guy but still crush him if he hurts you.”

“You do realize I’m capable of taking care of myself.”

Gueira dug into a particularly stiff spot in Lio’s shoulders. “I got your back though. You’re family.”

“Oh. Right there.” Lio stopped himself from actually moaning as Gueira worked out the tension in his shoulders.

“I knew you couldn’t resist my charms for long, boss.”

“Anyway, I have some say in whether or not I let Galo touch me.” Lio reminded Gueira, shooting him a sharp look over his shoulder.

“I know, I know.”

Both of them jumped when Lio’s phone vibrated. Hastily, Lio unlocked his phone. “He sent me a picture of Smoky. He’s sleeping with his nose tucked under his paw.”

“Let me see.”

Lio held the phone out to Gueira.

“Bite him, Smoky.” Guiera whispered. “What?”

“You just said you liked him.” Lio took his phone away.

“Can’t I encourage just a little chaos?”

The three of them quietly ate dinner, each lost in their own thoughts. Lio felt stuck in a circle where he couldn’t stop thinking about Galo, alone by himself at his house. But what was he supposed to do? If Galo had the virus, he couldn’t risk infecting himself and his roommates. 

“My dad called.” Meis stated abruptly, his tone neutral. “They’re canceling the rest of the tour so he’s not coming.”

Gueira froze. “I didn’t know he was coming.”

“Well, now he’s not and you don’t need to worry about it.” Meis scooped up some black beans and rice.

A series of emotions flickered across Gueira’s face. Lio had met Meis’ dad all of one time at a show in a dive bar a little over a year ago. He hadn’t thought much of the man after a brief backstage encounter, but it was obvious that Meis longed for his approval — as if the fact that Meis still kept his dad’s guitar wasn’t enough evidence. Gueira, on the other hand, held much more complicated feelings for the man.

“That’s a bummer.” Gueira commented at last. “He won’t even come just to visit?”

Meis stabbed his spoon into his bowl. “No.”

“Well, his loss.” Gueira shrugged. “His son is a pretty okay guy.”

Meis gave a lopsided grin. “I suppose that’s true.”

Stretching his arms up, Gueira exhaled loudly. “What do you want to do after dishes? We can watch a stupid movie with car chases and explosions!”

“The boss hates those.” Meis commented. “Too low brow for the fancy one.”

“I just want the plot to make sense. Is that too much to ask?” Lio complained.

“Movies aren’t for making sense! They’re for having fun. I love a good explosion and you won’t let me blow stuff up in real life anymore.” Gueira pointed his spoon at Lio to emphasize his point.

Lio rolled his eyes.

“Well, if you two have dishes, I’m going to call my mom.” Meis got to his feet. “She keeps hearing bad stuff about the pandemic on the news so she’s been texting me in panic-mode.”

“Say hi to her for me.” Gueira grinned.

Meis nodded, patting Lio’s head as he walked past. He disappeared down the hallway, the door into his shared room closing quietly after him.

Gueira’s grin dropped as soon as Meis was out of sight. “We’ve got it easy. No family to worry about us.”

“Yeah.” Lio agreed even if he detected a note of bitterness in Gueira’s voice. “That’s why we have to take care of each other.”

“Do you think he’d be better off if he went back to Texas until this is all over?” Gueira turned to Lio.

Lio shook his head. “He won’t go.”

Both of them knew why. Meis’s family still saw Gueira as his friend that he just happened to live with for nearly ten years.

“Come on, let’s do dishes.” Gueira’s chair scraped against the floor as he stood up.

Lio gathered up the dishes and carried them over to the sink. Gueira must have been feeling bad if he was suggesting they do any kind of housework. “You know it’s his choice to stay here.”

“I know, but…” Apparently that was all Gueira wanted to say on the subject as his voice faded out and he didn’t pick the topic back up again.

The two of them squeezed togehter at the sink as they washed dishes, Gueira uncharacteristically quiet. His normal method of helping was to enthusiastically try to do as little as possible, but tonight he attacked the pan with gusto. Lio wanted to say something to break the mood, but his brain kept going back to Galo. Had he eaten? Was he getting enough fluids?

Lio and Gueira both looked up as Meis silently left the apartment with his guitar case.

“I hate when his dad does this.” Gueira muttered darkly. “He doesn’t deserve Meis. He abandoned us, he abandoned Meis— Shit! I’m a total idiot!”

“I won’t argue with that, but what is it this time?”

Gueira stared down at his hand where he still wore the ring. “I have to talk to him. Do you think he’ll still have me?”

“Of course he will.”

Gueira clenched his fist. “Can you finish up?”

Lio narrowed his eyes. “This better not be an elaborate plan to get out of doing dishes.”

“No way! I’m going to propose to my boyfriend again!” Gueira threw his towel on the counter. “I want him to have that at least — my promise to stay with him.”

Lio nodded.

“Wish me luck.” Gueira laughed nervously. “I’m scared shitless, but I’m really going to do this!”

“Good luck.” Lio meant it.

—————————

“Are you two decent?” Lio knocked on the door to Meis and Gueira’s room.

“…boss, what time is it…?” Meis asked sleepily from the other side.

Gueira yawned. “Come in.”

Lio cautiously opened the door. Both his roommates were dressed for sleep but Lio noticed a rather impressive hickey that was already starting to form on Meis’ neck. They’d come down from the roof and immediately to the bedroom, so he guessed Gueira’s proposal had gone over well.

Feeling stupid and childish, Lio hesitated.

“Sheets are clean.” Meis pulled the covers back. “We thought this might happen.”

“I’m surprised it took you this long to sneak in here.” Gueira snickered.

Without another word, Lio climbed into bed with them and Meis draped the comforter back over their bodies. Lio snuggled down between the two of them.

“You should go to him.” Gueira said quietly. “Tomorrow.”

Lio shook his head. “I can’t risk infecting you two.”

“So pack up your things and go stay with him for a while.” Meis suggested, stroking Lio’s hair sleepily. “We’ll take care of the apartment while you’re gone.”

“You wouldn’t be the boss if you didn’t want to take care of those that are weaker than you.” Gueira teased.

“Galo’s not weaker than me.”

“But that is why you’re here, isn’t it? To ask permission to go see Galo?” Gueira asked, dropping the teasing tone.

Lio stared up at the ceiling. His friends had seen his heart before he had himself. “Yeah.”

“Then go! Do it!” Gueira smiled, raising his hand up in the air to stare at his ring. “I’m in love with love tonight and I want to see you happy too!”

“I’m- I’m not going to ask him to marry me!” Lio protested, feeling his cheeks turn red.

“Let’s sleep together like the old days for tonight.” Meis cuddled up to Lio. Taking his cue from Meis, Gueira reached over the covers to take his boyfriend’s hand. Lio felt warm and secure sandwiched between his two friends. “And tomorrow will be a day that all of us step forward.”

—————————

“Galo. I’m downstairs, you should buzz me in.” Lio called into the intercom. They had all decided it would be harder for Galo turned him away with this tactic.

“Lio?” Galo’s voice sounded hoarse. “What are you doing here?”

Lio took on his best bossy tone. “I brought ingredients for soup. Sounds like you could use it.”

“I can’t get you sick too.”

“You kissed me, remember? I’m already infected.”

“Oh.” Galo sounded thoughtful. “I suppose that’s true. Soup does sound really good.”

With a click, the door unlocked and Lio let himself into Galo’s building,but not before turning to give a thumbs up to where Meis and Gueira waited in the car. Laden as he was with a bag full of clothes and another bag full of groceries, the elevator ride up to Galo’s apartment felt as if it took forever. He had to jostle his bags around to knock on the door, but it opened almost as soon as he made any noise.

“Hey.” Galo stepped aside to let Lio into the apartment. He wore a pair of flannel pajama pants and an FDPP t-shirt with a blanket wrapped over his shoulders. His cheeks were flushed and he hadn’t bothered styling his hair or putting in his contacts. In short, he looked terrible.

“You told me you didn’t have a fever.” Lio commented as he went into the kitchen and dropped off the groceries.

“I didn’t until yesterday afternoon! My body betrayed me. And after all that immune system supplement I drank.” Galo sighed mournfully. “Why’d you bring so much stuff?”

“Because I’m staying here until you get better.” Lio whisked past a bewildered Galo to drop his stuff on the bed in the guest room. It looked the same as last time he’d been in here except that cat toys littered the carpet.

“You’re a force of nature, Lio.” Galo commented as he followed Lio into the room on slipper feet.

At least Galo wasn’t calling him bossy. Lio unzipped his bag.

Galo’s arms encircled him from behind and Lio felt the heat radiating off him. “I’m sorry I infected you, but I’m glad you’re here.”

Lio reached up to take Galo’s hand. “I’m glad I’m here too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually managed to finish this in a reasonable amount of time for the Promare anniversary! Also the US release of the bluray! I finally got to see the Lio short with English subs. (And the gkids dub is a blessing that contained the really great pun “ice-holes”.)
> 
> I made a joke about about a flu pandemic a few chapters ago(more specifically a certain coffee company’s response to it) and never did I imagine that the flu pandemic would still be happening now. Oh boy. A lot of the atmosphere of this chapter comes from my own personal experiences living in Seattle when covid-19 first entered the US. This was fairly therapeutic to write, but I’m not sure how therapeutic it is to read. 
> 
> Also, thank you so much to everyone for their very kind comments on ace Lio! Honestly, all the comments have been extremely heart-warming. So thank you!
> 
> Next time: Did Lio remember to pack his stuffed animal? Will Meis ad Gueira run away and elope?


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lio puts Galo on trial

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: This chapter deals with illness again and takes place during an unspecified flu epidemic

“Galo. I hate you. I’m going to murder you.” Only Lio’s face stuck out from his cocoon of blankets on the couch. He coughed. “I’m probably going to die, but first I’m going to murder you for doing this to me.”

“But then who is going to bring you tea?” Galo emerged from the kitchen with two steaming mugs of tea, one in each hand. He held a mug out to Lio who accepted it begrudgingly. “Lemon tea with honey. Gran always made it for me when I was sick. It’ll make your throat feel better.”

Lio felt too grumpy to be thankful. He sipped his tea as Galo plopped down next to him on the couch.

“Did I do an okay job with the tea?” Galo asked. His mug read “World’s #1 Idiot” and, as Galo had explained to him, it had been a gift from his former roommate. 

“You’re still not forgiven.” Lio shivered. “I’m cold. Put your arms around me.”

Galo’s lips twitched up in a smile but he managed not to laugh as he wrapped his free arm around Lio. “Five minutes ago you were too hot and you kicked me off the couch.”

Galo’s warmth seeped in through the blankets and Lio relaxed into the embrace. “I’m cold now.”

“Do you want to start a movie?” Galo asked.

“I want to die. I hate being sick.” Lio situated himself so he could lean against Galo.

Galo’s arm tightened around Lio. “Don’t say that. Please?”

“Okay.” Lio agreed, caught off guard by the serious tone in Galo’s voice.

“Do you want to watch more of that tiny homes show instead?” Galo asked after a long moment.

Lio took another sip of his tea. “Sure.”

—————————

“All rise for Judge Lio Fotia!”

The assembled rose as Judge Lio took his place behind the bench. “This is the trial of Galo Thymos. He has been charged with knowingly and willfully infecting us with a cold!”

“I’m innocent, Your Honor!” Galo protested from his spot in the witness stand. He had on a t-shirt printed with a tuxedo on the front and it fit him perfectly.

The crowd of Lios in the courtroom gasped at Galo’s pronouncement, although Judge Lio also heard a few appreciative murmurs for Galo’s flawless torso and biceps.

Judge Lio struck his gavel. “Order in the court. Order in the court!”

Attorney Lio stood up. His parents would have been proud of him for going to law school and putting on a suit. “Your Honor, this man is guilty as charged. Allow me to present my evidence!”

—————————

Exhibit A (Prosecution Side)

“Here.” Lio carried a tray over to couch. “Chickpea and rice soup.”

Galo sat up from his sprawled position. He removed the tissue he’d stuffed up his nose after he’d gotten tired of constantly blowing it and added it to the growing pile on the arm of the couch. Some of the tissues overflowed and spilled out onto the floor. “I wish I could smell that. It looks amazing.”

Once Galo was fully upright, Lio set the tray in his lap. “Make sure you drink all your water too.”

Eagerly, Galo ate a spoonful of soup. “Wow, this is so much better than that canned chicken noodle I was eating.”

“Uh-huh.” Lio picked up the wads of tissue from the couch and the floor, chucking them into the kitchen garbage.

Galo fell silent as he inhaled the bowl of soup. Lio smiled to himself, pleased that Galo liked the results of his morning in the kitchen. 

“Are you warm enough? Do you need another blanket?” Lio felt Galo’s forehead when he returned. It seemed like the right thing to do, but Lio couldn’t tell anything except that Galo was very warm.

“Could you fluff my pillow?” Galo asked, giving Lio puppy eyes. On a scale of 1 to 10, they were probably a 12 or 13.

“Fine.” Lio conceded to Galo’s ridiculous desires and gave the couch pillows a good fluff up. “Better?”

“Mm. Yes.” Galo flopped back down on the couch.

“You didn’t drink all your water.” Lio noted as he grabbed the tray.

“But my head hurts and I don’t want to sit up again.” Galo whined.

“But you have to drink plenty of fluids.” Lio held the glass out. His mom always told him that when he was sick so he figured there had to be some truth to the statement.

Making an unhappy noise, Galo sat up again and downed what was left of the water. Once Lio took the glass from him, he immediately slid back down on the couch. “My head hurts, my chest hurts, my nose hurts, my throat hurts, my whole body hurts. They closed the school and I’m too sick to even enjoy it and play video games.”

“Maybe you should just rest.” Lio carried the dishes into the kitchen and deposited them into the sink.

“I can’t sleep. I hurt too much.” Galo sighed. “Will you sit with me?”

“Let me finish the dishes first.”

“The dishes…” Galo despaired in the living room.

Lio flipped on the faucet and the noise drowned out whatever else Galo might have said on the manner. In only a few short minutes, he had the remainder of the dishes in the dishwasher and set the pot he’d used into the sink to soak. If he ever managed to move into a place with a dishwasher, Lio promised himself he’d never complain about doing the dishes again.

“You have to make room for me.” Lio tapped Galo’s legs when he came back into the living room. Obligingly, Galo moved his legs so Lio could take up one end of the couch. Once Lio had situated himself, Galo rested his legs in Lio’s lap.

Galo cleared his throat. “Can I see your hand?”

Lio held one hand out to Galo. With a slight struggle, Galo lifted himself up on one elbow and took Lio’s hand. He lifted it and gently pressed Lio’s knuckles against his lips. “Thank you. I meant it. I’m really happy you’re here.”

—————————

“AAAAH! That idiot!” Judge Lio buried his face in his hands, his face bright red. “How can he just kiss my hand like that?!”

“That’s exactly our point, Your Honor!” Attorney Lio interjected. “He put his germs on our hand! With his lips!”

The crowd gasped.

“I didn’t mean—! Your Honor!” Galo pleaded.

“Order in the court!” Judge Lio banged his gavel again.

“Your Honor. I am Defense Attorney Lio.” The second attorney straightened up his tie as he rose to his feet. “My client is innocent. Just look at into his eyes. Are those the eyes of someone who would do anything bad? Ever?”

Judge Lio turned to the witness stand, looking into Galo’s eyes. Ugh, they really were nice eyes.

“Objection!” the first Attorney Lio shouted. “Defense is leading the witness.”

“What?” Judge Lio roused himself from the distraction.

“Your Honor, my client would never knowingly hurt us. Sure, he’s an idiot, but I maintain that any disease transmission was done entirely by accident. Allow me to present a counter-argument: We are also an idiot! Here is my evidence!”

—————————

Exhibit B (Defense Side)

Lio emerged from the guest room dressed in his pajamas and and oversized hoodie zipped up over top for extra warmth. “Galo. I brought you something.”

“Uh…?” Galo clutched the tissue box to his chest. “You’ve been bringing me stuff all day. I have about 50 blankets.”

“This is different.” Lio held out a battered paperback book.

Galo took the book and looked at it with distrust. “The Little Prince? My head hurts too much to read.”

“I thought I could read it to you.” Lio sat lightly on the edge of the couch. “Just a bit before bed.”

He half expected Galo to laugh, but instead he sat up, his eyes alight with excitement. Eagerly, he handed the paperback over to Lio. “You’re going to read me a bedtime story?”

“Yeah.” Lio reached over to brush some longer strands of hair out of Galo’s face. “It was my favorite as a kid. I even dressed up as the little prince for Halloween last year.”

“Really?”

“Aina invited me to her party and I had to throw it together last minute out of stuff I found at the thrift store.” Lio shrugged.

Galo’s eyes narrowed. “Wait, you were at Aina’s Halloween party last year?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“I was at Aina’s Halloween party. I would remember if you were there!”

Lio tried to remember any details he could about the party. He hadn’t stayed at the party long, because he hadn’t particularly wanted to be there, but Meis and Gueira insisted he go and make friends. They’d even helped him put his costume together. Even being disgruntled most of the night, he was too gay to forget someone who looked as good as Galo. There was no way they could have missed each other, but…

Lio flipped to one of the illustrations in the first few pages of the book to a simplistic illustration of the little prince in a jacket. “I based my outfit on this drawing.”

“AH! I remember you!” Galo pointed at the drawing. “I- I thought you were dressed up as a video game character! I wanted to ask what game your costume was from, but you looked kind of angry-slash-bored the whole night!”

That sounded accurate.

“Liooooo!” Galo buried his face in his hands. “I thought you were a really pretty girl…! I’m so sorry!”

Lio snorted. “Don’t apologize for that.”

“But we could have met even earlier!”

Lio patted Galo’s back as he sounded miserable at the missed opportunity. “I still don’t remember seeing you there.”

Galo lifted his head. “I was dressed up as Mechalord 1 from Wild Force Team Mechalord.”

Lio took a moment to parse all those words. “You were the guy dressed up in the cardboard robot costume.”

“Oh yeah. That was me. I hand painted it and everything!” He struck a pose. “Mechalord 1, reporting for… My head hurts…” Galo whined before melting back into the couch.

Lio definitely remembered that stupid phrase. “You kept challenging people to dance battles.”

“Oh yeah.” Galo laughed sheepishly. “I guess I had a bit to drink at the party.”

“And you just kept trying to do the robot over and over.” Lio smiled at the memory. He’d been extremely annoyed at the idiot in the robot costume at the time, but for some reason he found it endearing now. “You weren’t very good.”

“You just don’t appreciate the fine dancing of Mecha Planet Zebulon.” Galo coughed. 

Lio scooted closer, perching on his knees so he could kiss Galo’s forehead.

“Careful. Don’t wanna get you sick too.” Despite his words, Galo smiled.

“I’ve eaten literal garbage before. My immune system is made of steel.” Lio traced his fingers along Galo’s jaw. They had both agreed that kissing was probably a bad idea, but apparently that only extended to mouth kissing. If Galo was going to kiss his hand, then it was only fair that Lio got a little revenge. “It’ll take more than that to do me in.”

“I want to kiss you so bad, this is torture!”

Grinning in triumph, Lio turned and snuggled in against Galo’s side. He flipped the book open to the first page. “This was my favorite book when I was young. Pay attention, okay?”

Galo put an arm around Lio. “I like this book already. It comes with pictures.”

Lio made sure to angle the book so that Galo could see it as he read. “Once when I was six years old…”

—————————

“Voluntary proximity with my client!” Defense Attorney Lio concluded. “We kissed him on the forehead thus exposing ourselves to his germs. Therefore, I conclude that my client is innocent.”

“He started it!” the first Attorney Lio pointed out.

“That was a sad book too, Lio.” Galo frowned. Galo had listen attentively all the way until the end and had come to the same teary-eyed conclusion that night. “You were a sad kid.”

“Order in the court!” Judge Lio banged his gavel. He pointed it at Galo. “And I ask you to kindly refrain from judgment of my choice in children’s literature!”

In unison, all Lios present nodded curtly in agreement.

“Your Honor, if I may.” Prosecution Attorney Lio stood up this time. “It wasn’t just proximity to the defendant that caused our unfortunate illness, Galo Thymos placed us in situations that were dangerous to our health.” 

“I wouldn’t do that!” Galo protested.

“The evidence doesn’t lie, Thymos.”

—————————

Exhibit C (Prosecution Side)

Lio let himself into the apartment with Galo’s spare key. He shut the door after himself and took off his soaking jacket to hang in the hall. Rain had soaked through everything and Lio shivered. “There isn’t any toilet paper or tissue in all of Promepolis.”

“Whu…?” Galo looked around in a half-asleep daze. Lio supposed he should feel grateful that Galo was resting, but he mostly felt annoyed that he’d spent the past three hours tromping around Promepolis in search of toilet paper while Galo napped. “You’re soaked.”

“And whose fault is that?” Lio snapped. “Why don’t you have any tissue?”

“It’s ‘cause I didn’t want to go shopping between classes and work…” Galo muttered into the couch pillows. 

Lio sighed and checked his temper. It wasn’t Galo’s fault that everyone was panic-hoarding paper products and hand sanitizer. “What did you want for lunch?”

“I don’t know…” Galo whined. “Everything tastes funny.”

“Think about it.” Lio took a deep breath as he restrained the urge to yell at Galo. “I’m going to change into dry clothes and then I’ll make lunch.”

He coughed loudly into his sleeve before going down the hall to the guest room. If he got sick, he was going to murder Galo. He’d dump the body in the Parnassus River. No one would be able to pin it on him if they couldn’t find the body.

Smoky glared at Lio from the foot of the guest bed. They had a slight disagreement over who the bed currently belonged to. 

“I’m not going to move you.” Lio reassured the cat as he peeled off his soggy shirt.

“..Are you sick, Lio?” Galo knocked lightly before entering.

Over the course of their relationship, Lio had seen Galo without his shirt on multiple times. The man had no shame in stripping his shirt off constantly. However, Lio preferred to keep his shirt on his body. And he hadn’t envisioned the first time Galo saw him with no shirt on to be while he was still looking bedraggled and damp. He had, in fact, been imagining candle light and kissing being involved in the equation. 

“I— Whoa.” Galo’s eyes went wide. His eyes roamed over Lio’s body and Lio felt suddenly much more naked than he actually was.

“Learn to knock!” Lio shouted.

“I did! WAH!” Lio’s damp shirt hit Galo squarely in the face.

—————————

“We spent three hours trying to find tissue! Three hours!” Attorney Lio pointed out. “In the rain!”

Judge Lio looked down on Galo in the witness chair. “That was quite annoying.”

“Objection!!” Defense Attorney Lio called out. “No one made us go out shopping! And certainly no one made us spend three hours in the rain on it. We were just stubborn.”

“But if Galo had any sense, he would have bought more tissue when people started getting sick instead of waiting.” The first Attorney Lio added.

Galo looked between the Attorneys and Judge Lio. “But you don’t love me because I have common sense.”

The crowd of Lios broke into an uproar over use of the L word.

“Objection! Objection!” Both Attorney Lios shouted.

Judge Lio banged his gavel with force. “Order in the court! Order in the court!!”

Eventually, quiet settled on the crowd, although a few Lios still muttered amongst themselves.

“There will be no more use of that word while court is in session.” Judge Lio warned.

Galo looked up at Judge Lio with his big, blue eyes. “Which word?”

“You know the one!” Judge Lio’s voice came out higher than he would have liked. 

“Objection, Your Honor.” Attorney Lio sighed. “I’m sure whatever the defendant is doing with his eyes is illegal.”

Defense Attorney Lio rose to his feet. “I would like to point out that my client warned us of danger on multiple occasions and we chose to ignore him. Why? Because we’re an idiot.”

—————————

Exhibit D (Defense Side)

“How do you feel?” Lio when he heard Galo’s slipper feet in the hall.

“Better. Slightly more human.” A moment later and Galo emerged from the hallway. He had a bright red fleece blanket wrapped around his shoulders, his hair still damp from his shower. With a loud grunt, he plopped down on the couch at the end farthest from Lio.

He stretched his arms up over his head and the blanket fell away to reveal Galo’s sleeveless arm. In all this time, Lio had never seen him without his burn sleeve on. Red, angry burn scars covered much of his left arm.

“Oh yeah, guess you haven’t seen the ol’ arm with no sleeve on it…” Galo commented, catching Lio watching him.

Lio looked away. “Sorry.”

“It’d be weirder if you didn’t look.” Galo shrugged, completely unbothered.

“How did it happen?” Lio asked as curiosity overcame him, before adding hastily. “You don’t have to answer if it’s a painful memory!”

“Nah, it’s okay. If it’s you.” Galo sat up a bit. “It was almost a year ago, there was a fire at Promepolis U. We thought it was a fire drill, but I saw one of the girls in my class was missing and everyone laughed at me when I went back to look for her.”

“Oh…” Lio remembered something like that being in the news.

Galo’s face brightened up as he got into telling his story. “Fire safety is serious business! I wasn’t going to leave her behind during a fire drill. But then it turned out to be a real fire and while I was trying to get her out - whoosh!! — we got caught in a blast and I held my arm like this to shield us and FOOM!!” Galo wiggled his fingers in imitation of a fire of his arm.

Lio’s eyes widened as the story went on.

“Anyway, I didn’t even feel anything until we got out of the building. But good thing my arm was there or both of us could have gotten really hurt!” Galo concluded.

“You did get really hurt, you idiot!” Lio exclaimed in annoyance. “How could you be so reckless?!”

“Aina yelled at me too.” Galo looked sheepish a moment before adding. “Oh yeah, you met the girl too. She’s on Lucia’s crash-bots team! The driver, Thyma!”

“Thyma?” The mousy girl? Did that explain why she seemed so overwhelmed by Galo?

“Yeah! She stopped going to classes after that so I’m glad she’s doing okay.”

“Galo…” Lio’s voice softened as he looked at the scars on Galo’s arm.

“Yeah? Normally, I’d say you can touch it, but you know, we’re not supposed to be getting too close. I don’t want you to get sick.” Galo held his arm out so Lio could look at it.

Disregarding Galo’s words, Lio scooted closer and ran his fingers over the scar. “You’re a real life hero.”

“I am?” Galo flushed a little. “I mean— I am! Of course I am! That’s what I want to do and why I want to be a firefighter. I want to save people.”

“Firefighters have equipment.” Lio quietly scolded as he slid even closer to Galo.

“Lio, are you sure you should be getting this close?” Galo asked.

“I’ll risk it. I have confidence in my immune system.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Galo Thymos.” Lio slid into Galo’s lap. “I can honestly save I’ve never met anyone quite like you.”

And he kissed Galo.

—————————

“As you can see, the claimant tried to warn us of the communicable nature of the disease.” Defense Attorney Lio concluded. “Yet we chose to ignore these factors and continued touching him.”

“Objection!” The first Attorney Lio shouted.

“Now what?” Judge Lio asked.

“We already knew the disease was communicable by proximity. It’s been all over the news! The defendant wasn’t telling us anything we already didn’t know.”

Defense Attorney Lio frowned. “So you’re really just admitting that we’re mega-idiot who ignored not only my client, but also the news?!”

“If!” Attorney Lio pointed dramatically at Galo. “If the defendant had intended to keep us from getting sick, he wouldn’t have invited us to stay at his apartment. And he definitely wouldn’t have invited us to stay in his bed!”

The crowd of Lios gasped dramatically.

“Allow me to present my final piece of evidence!”

—————————

Exhibit E (Prosecution Side)

Lio couldn’t sleep. Every single click in Galo’s apartment, the lack of noise off the street, the sound the fridge made when it was running, every single thing was all wrong. After reading several chapters of a sci-fi novel Lucia had recommended to him, Lio had to admit defeat on sleeping for the night. Startling Smoky, Lio rose from bed to do anything other than just stare up at the ceiling feeling frustrated.

Galo left his door half open, just wide enough for a cat to slip through if Smoky was so inclined. Lio didn’t feel too bad when he pushed the door open enough to check on him. Soft snoring told Lio that Galo slept heavily. A yellow-gold beam of light fell across his face where it came in through a crack in the curtain.

Glancing around at the walls, Lio didn’t know what to make of the rest of the room. When Lio had first visited Galo’s condo in December, Galo wouldn’t let Lio see his room, claiming it was too messy. Turns out the room wasn’t messy, so much as filled top to bottom anime paraphernalia. Multiple posters of anime girls in frilly skirts adorned the walls. Figures of these same girls cluttered up a bookshelf. A few toys of robots broke up the anime girl figures, but Galo seemed especially devoted do these girls, whoever they were. The bedspread was blue, so at least he’d been able to predict that.

As quietly as possible, Lio stepped over to perch on the edge of Galo’s bed. Galo let out a particularly loud snore, a trail of drool trickling from the corner of his mouth.

“Still stuffed up, huh?” Lio whispered. 

After glancing around to make sure that Smoky wasn’t watching, Lio scooted down, just for a moment, just for a second, to see what it would be like to sleep next to Galo. He glanced up, looking at Galo’s face in profile. Lio meant what he’d said earlier — he didn’t think he’d met anyone quite like Galo before. In his 20 years on planet earth, he’d seen a lot of cruelty, but tempered with the unexpected kindness he’d also encountered. Still, he’d never known anyone to run headlong into a fire to rescue someone just because it was the right thing to do. 

He shifted just a little closer so he could rest his head on Galo’s shoulder.

“Lio?” Galo croaked, voice hoarse from sleep.

Immediately, Lio bolted upright. “Yes?”

“Do you want under the covers?” Galo rubbed one eye.

“I—” Embarrassment and guilt flooded Lio, as if he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t. If the situations had been reversed, Lio would have kicked Galo out of the room.

“I’ll be a gentleman, I promise. If you’re going to lay down here, you should at least get under the covers so you’re warm.” Galo scooted over in the bed to make room.

“You’re not mad?” Lio asked.

“I’m irresistible.” Galo coughed slightly. “Can’t be mad if you want to cuddle. Besides, I left the door open for a reason.”

Lio didn’t know what to say to that so he said nothing.

“I thought you might get lonely or something. Besides, Gueira told me you get insomnia sometimes.”

That didn’t make sneaking into Galo’s room while he was sleeping okay.

“Smoky checks on me at night too.”

“He’s a cat.” Lio pointed out. Galo lifted the covers up to reveal the empty space next to him and Lio relented, sliding under the covers until he was lying shoulder-to-shoulder with Galo.

True to his word, Galo remained a gentleman. He didn’t make any advances to move past simply laying in bed together. Lio stared up at the ceiling trying to ignore his racing heart. Eventually, Galo sighed contentedly and Lio glanced over to see Galo with his eyes closed, but smiling slightly.

“Can I hold your hand?” Lio whispered.

“Yeah.” He felt Galo’s hand take his own, lacing their fingers together.

Lio whispered. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Who are all those girls on the walls?”

Galo cracked his eyes open and smiled sheepishly. “It’s Pretty Cure.”

“… Pretty Cure? Are they… nurses?”

Galo gave a short laugh. “No. It’s— They’re magical girls.”

“What’s a magical girl?”

“You really want me to explain it to you?” Galo asked. “You’re not going to make fun of me?”

“I’m curious. Tell me about it.”

So Galo held Lio’s hand and explained the essential aspects of being a magical girl until Lio fell asleep.

—————————

“Your Honor! This man-” Attorney Lio pointed at Galo “-not only held hands with us, but held hands with us in his very own bed! Clearly, he had to know the risk of infection was high!”

“It’s not as my client forced us into the bed with him. We did so of our own volition.” Defense Attorney Lio pointed out.

“We had insomnia brain. We weren’t thinking clearly.”

“That’s not my client’s fault!”

Judge Lio banged his gavel. “Order in the court. No more bickering.”

Defense Attorney Lio straightened out his tie. He did look good in a tie, although it didn’t exactly mesh with his image. “Allow me to present my last piece of evidence.”

—————————

Exhibit F (Defense Side)

Lio woke slowly, overheated but not really wanting to move to do anything about it. They were tangled up together and Lio reached up to push Gueira’s arm off him — but the shape of the body next to him was all wrong, too solid, and the smell was different, not enough of the cigarettes they all pretended Meis didn’t smoke. Galo coughed quietly and Lio’s mind suddenly oriented itself. He was at Galo’s condo, in Galo’s bed, with his face pressed up against Galo’s chest. Slowly, Lio released his grip on the back of Galo’s t-shirt and unlooped his arm from around the other man’s waist.

“Sorry.” Galo whispered. “Did my coughing wake you?”

“You’re too hot.” Lio lifted his head to put a little space between them, only to find Galo’s fingers interlaced with his hair. “I need air.”

Galo’s hand moved away and Lio almost immediately missed the sensation. “Is this too much?”

Lio sat up in the bed. “Too much what?”

“You know. You said you weren’t ready.” Galo looked up at him, his eyebrows creased with concern. “I’m waiting for you, like I said I would, but when I woke up we were kind of.. All together like that.”

“Oh.” Lio scratched the tip of his nose with one finger before blurting out. “But what if I’m never ready?!”

“Is that something you think might happen?” Galo asked.

“Maybe. I don’t know. I’m figuring somethings out.” Lio spoke quickly, then stopped himself. Galo deserved more of the truth. “I don’t really think I’m interested in, just, sex in general.”

Galo stared at him.

“So you… if you want to break up with me, I’d understand. You probably deserve a normal boyfriend who wants to have sex with you instead of—”

“Whoa, hey.” Galo sat up and took Lio’s shoulders. “Don’t go deciding that I’m breaking up with you on your own. I get some say in that, don’t I?”

Lio nodded, finding it hard to look Galo in the eyes.

“…you don’t want to break up with me, right?” Lio’s breath caught in his throat in the uncertainty in Galo’s voice.

“No.” He answered quietly.

“Okay, good.” Galo let out a sigh of relief. “There’s still things we haven’t done. I haven’t shown you the firehouse! I haven’t made you a romantic vegetarian pasta dinner! We haven’t even gone to the zoo!”

Lio nodded, still not quite able to look up at Galo.

“I’d still like to do those things with you.” Galo leaned closer to tuck some of Lio’s hair behind his ear. “You’ve been holding all this inside you for a while, huh?”

“I guess so.” Lio fidgeted with the blanket. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I don’t know why I can’t be normal.”

“Aw, Lio. There’s nothing wrong with you. You’re just uh— what do they call it? Asexual or ace or something?”

“Galo, how do you—” It didn’t matter how Galo knew what asexual was, Lio threw his arms around Galo and held him tightly.

“You okay?” Galo asked rubbing Lio’s back.

Lio muttered into Galo’s chest. “Yeah. Thank you.”

“You want to lay down? My head is killing me. Is it okay if I hold you for a little bit?”

“Yeah.” Lio let Galo pull both of them down into the comforts of the bed. “I’d like that a lot actually.”

—————————

“What does that have to do with anything?” the prosecution asked.

Defense Attorney Lio scoffed. “I just happen to like that memory.”

“That’s not evidence! If anything, it proves that the defendant subjected us to more hazardous conditions!”

“Blah blah blah. You’re just bitter that you’re going to lose.”

“Lio?” Galo turned to Judge Lio. “Do you really want to be mad at me?”

Judge Lio considered Galo for a moment before standing up. “I’ve made up my mind. I declare Galo Thymos not guilty!!”

“YES!” Galo jumped to his feet and fistpumped into the air.

A horse appeared out of nowhere. Galo offered his hand to Judge Lio and the two rode off into the sunset together. 

—————————

“How was your nap?” Galo asked when Lio lifted his head.

Lio rubbed his face. “Did I fall asleep on you?”

“A little.” Galo stretched his arm up over his head now that Lio wasn’t resting his head against it.

“How can I fall asleep on you a little? That’s kind of an all or nothing thing.” 

“It’s an honor to be your pillow, smarty-pants.” Galo returned. “How do you feel?”

“Terrible. Sorry for being crabby earlier.” Sitting up, Lio stretched a bit. He ached all over from being sick, his head hurt, and his throat hurt.

“Happens to the best of us.” Galo ruffled Lio’s hair.

Lio glared and smoothed his hair out again. “Still. I’m sorry.”

“Apology accepted.” Galo smiled.

“I think I want some tea. And then maybe we can watch that Pretty Cure show you were telling me about?”

Galo’s face lit up. “Really?? Okay! Which season do you want to start on?”

“The first one, I guess.”

Galo jumped to his feet. “Cool, okay! The first one is great! You’re definitely a Cure White.”

“Huh?” Cure White didn’t sound very cool. “Is there a Cure Black? Can I be her instead?”

“No way! I’m Cure Black and you’re Cure White! You can’t argue with me about it, because I’m the magical girl expert! Now I’m going to make you some tea and we’re going to watch Pretty Cure together and I’ll prove to you that it isn’t about nurses!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started this about three weeks ago and a lot has happened since then. Given some of the content of previous chapters, I just want to say, hey, Black Lives Matter. (Sorry if you thought this was an apolitical work, I guess… )
> 
> Also, I made a game with a friend! It’s about mech pilot rivals and maybe you’ll like it if you like my fanfic. Check it out: https://cloverfirefly.itch.io/fatum-metamorphosis
> 
> Lio, at the start of PreCure: What is this show? Why do they have take so long to transform? Couldn’t the bad guy just attack them?
> 
> Lio, at the end of PreCure: They defeated the bad guy! With the power of friendship! (┬┬﹏┬┬)
> 
> Next time: Does Lio ever find tissue? Will Smoky ever get the bed back?


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lio plays Animal Crossing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: Again, this chapter deals with current events and a flu epidemic

~~~ 1 ~~~

“I found a place to put my tent. Now what do I do?” Lio leaned back against Galo, using him for a pillow on the couch.

Galo peered over Lio’s shoulder to see that he’d set his tent in the middle of the beach. “Anything you want.”

“Anything I want…” Lio repeated. “Are you sure this is a game?”

“Lio.” Galo laughed. “You don’t have to play it if you don’t want. I just thought you’d have fun playing with me since we’re both stuck inside.”

“How do I get a house?” Lio walked slowly across the island (which he’d named Chamomile after at least 15 minutes of considering his island’s name). He hadn’t figured out how to run yet.

Galo kissed Lio on the top of the head, right on his part. “You have to pay back Tom Nook for the tent. If you pull out your phone, it should show you some tasks you can do for him.”

Lio hit a few buttons before finally finding the right one to pull out his in-game phone.

“See? You can pick up some shells from the beach or catch bugs.”

“I’m exploiting nature for capitalistic gains.”

Galo laughed again. “Lio. Come on. This is supposed to be fun.”

“I’m having fun!”

Galo loved him.

~~~ 2 ~~~

Galo stumbled into the kitchen, still mostly asleep. He scratched at the waistband of his pajama pants as he retrieved a cup out of the cabinet for water. “Lio, what are you doing still up?” 

“Sorry, I couldn’t sleep.” Lio responded in a whisper. “I didn’t want to wake you up, so I thought I’d play Animal Crossing a little more.”

“Oh.” Galo filled a cup with water then chugged it all down in one go. Lio’s character stood still on a cliff, the night sky spread out above him. “What’re you up to?”

“There’s an owl with a big bow.”

“Oh, Celeste!”

“She told me I could make wishes on stars. And now it’s a meteor shower.” Lio continued whispering as if still afraid to wake him. It made Galo smile.

“I’ll come play with you.” Galo set his glass down and made his way into the living room.

Lio scooted over to make room for Galo on the couch. “You should go back to sleep.”

“Nah, I’m awake. Let’s play until I’m sleepy again. I’ve only seen one meteor shower over on Remi’s island.” Galo grabbed the special Animal Crossing switch he’d won in a raffle and plopped down next to his boyfriend. (He’d let Lio “borrow” his old switch. He wasn’t planning to ask for it back.) 

Before long, Galo landed on Chamomile and joined Lio on the cliffs at the back of his island. They ran around each other in circles, trying to sneeze on the other. Both of them stopped as soon as they heard the sound of a shooting star racing across the sky.

“Dang, I missed.” Galo lamented.

“That’s why you shouldn’t run around trying to sneeze on me.”

“Liooo. Did you get it?” Galo lightly elbowed him. “What’d you wish for?”

“I wished for a star fragment.”

Galo turned and stared at the sky. Then he got bored and sneezed on Lio.

“Stop trying to sneeze on me for a minute.” Lio ordered as he walked to stand next to Galo. “I’m going to mail you a mask so you can keep your germs to yourself.”

“Nothing will stop me from sneezing on you.”

In real life, Lio held out his hand to Galo. “Give me your hand.”

Galo took Lio’s hand and shook it.

“Not like that. Just let me hold your hand.”

Galo laced his fingers through Lio’s. “Is that better?”

Lio nodded. “I’m pretending we’re on a date together and we’re watching the stars.”

Galo loved him.

~~~ 3 ~~~

Galo let himself back into his condo with their freshly delivered lunch. “Food has arrived!” Galo called out as he pulled his mask off.

“You have to pay the toll, Remi.” Lio demanded from the living room.

“No.” Remi’s voice came somewhat flattened over voice chat.

“Pay the toll! Pay the toll!” Varys joined in (also over voice chat).

“Stop hitting me with a net. Galo! Tell your boyfriend he’s a menace.”

Galo settled down on the couch next to Lio, setting the takeout box of vegetable fried rice and spicy tofu into Lio’s lap. (He may have ordered an extra side of egg and chive dumplings plus tomato and egg mixed noodles for his boyfriend.) “You’re a menace, Lio.”

“Thank you.” Lio leaned over to kiss Galo’s cheek briefly before returning his attention to Animal Crossing. Galo had left him in charge of playing bouncer on his island (named PROMEPOLIS2!) while he took care of lunch. Lio was a bouncer in a maid dress with a flower crown. He looked very cute. “If you want to sell your turnips, you have to pay the toll.”

“This is stupid.” Remi grumbled.

“I think it’s great! Pay the toll, Remi!” Galo chimed in.

“No amount of bells is worth this.”

“579 bells, my man. Just do it.” Varys urged.

Remi heaved a long sigh before he started to sing in an unenthusiastic voice. “I’m a little teapot, short and stout…”

When he completed the song, Varys and Galo both gave small cheers and Lio moved out of the way of the nookling shop.

“I hate all of you.” Remi complained as he walked by Lio. 

Now that Remi had been taken care of, Lio lifted the lid on his lunch. “You didn’t have to buy this much food for me.”

Well, he did actually. Lio needed to get his strength up after being sick! (Galo couldn’t forget about Lio feverish in bed, asking for his mom in his sleep.)

“Yeah, I did! I’m hungry.” Galo opened his own lunch and inhaled deeply. He’d gotten pork and chives dumplings, shrimp and mushroom dumplings, pineapple fried rice and spicy chicken. Maybe he had ordered too much food for just the both of them.

“How does your hunger affect my lunch? I can’t eat all this.” Lio separated his chopsticks and took a bite of the fried rice. “Hot.”

“You didn’t order any dumplings and you have to try them. It’s in the name of the restaurant! Dumpling Town!”

“Aw man, you guys got Dumpling Town?” Varys commented. “I’m getting hungry now.”

The game chimed at them as a new player flew into PROMEPOLIS2!

“Who’s Gov K?” Lio asked between bites of food. 

Galo’s heart leapt. He’d invited the Gov over to his island a bunch of times and he’d never accepted before. “It’s the Gov!”

“Tell Gov K to get on voice chat and pay the toll.” Lio instructed as he ran back to guard the door into the shop.

Galo: HI \\(@^0^@)/

Galo: You should get on voice chat! We’re all hanging out!

The Gov: Who is that girl in the maid dress? Tell her to stop hitting me with a net.

Galo turned to Lio. “You should stop hitting the Gov with a net.”

“He hasn’t paid the toll yet.” Lio had forgotten his lunch in his efforts to hit the Gov’s avatar with a net.

Galo: You haven’t paid the toll yet （＞人＜；）

The Gov: What toll? Tell the maid girl to move.

The Gov: Please tell all your friends to stop hitting me with their nets.

Galo looked up from his phone to see that Remi and Varys had joined into half circle in front of the nookling store and were hitting the Gov’s avatar with their nets. 

“Hey, I want to show the Gov around my island. Can you let him sell his turnips real quick?” Galo asked.

“He hasn’t paid—” Lio stopped when he caught Galo’s expression. Lio stepped aside to let the Gov into the shop. “Okay, sure.”

“What?! You made the rest of us sing!” Remi protested.

“Thanks! I want to show him the obstacle course I’ve been working on.” Galo bounced in his seat with excitement.

The Gov: Thank you for letting me visit, Galo.

The Gov: I have to go now.

The Gov: I’m very busy. I’m sorry.

Galo: Okay, I’ll show you around next time ╯︿╰

Galo: Bye, Gov! See you!!! ヽ(✿ﾟ▽ﾟ)ノ

(He added that last one because he didn’t want to make the Gov sad that Galo was sad.)

The Gov: It’s nice to see you spending time with a girl for once.

Galo: LOL I hang out with Aina all the time ( •̀ ω •́ )✧

Galo stared down at his lunch after the Gov left, his appetite suddenly markedly diminished. “Well, he’s busy. I’ll show him the obstacle course next time.”

“Do you want to show me your obstacle course?” Lio asked, watching Galo with concern.

“I don’t think it’s changed that much since last time you saw it.” Galo pushed some rice around with his chopsticks. “But you could help me test some jumps out!”

“Okay. I’ll race you to the obstacle course.” Lio declared as he started running for the start line.

“That’s cheating!” Galo protested, shrimp and mushroom dumpling halfway to his mouth.

Galo loved him.

~~~ 4 ~~~

Lio laid flat on his stomach, stretched out over the couch, playing Animal Crossing. Galo was certain he’d seen Lio move to the guest room to make a video call to his roommates, but other than that, Lio had lounged around in a t-shirt borrowed from Galo and a pair of black sweats all day. This was Lio! Who fixed up his hair up before starting a work shift! Who always dressed immaculately even though his wardrobe was tiny and Galo had memorized all of his date shirts! Who even liked to wear a little make up from time to time! (Galo was very into it!)

Galo perched on the edge of the couch next to Lio. “How’s your game?”

“Nnn.” Lio grunted without looking at Galo. “I’m making a garden.”

Galo rubbed his hand between Lio’s shoulder blades. “How’re Meis and Gueira?”

“They’re okay.” Lio answered in a flat, dead voice. “Being real cagey about what they’re up to so I’m sure they’re getting into trouble.”

“You okay?”

“I’m fine.” Lio mumbled, not taking his eyes off his game.

“You kind of lost your job. It’s okay if you’re not fine.”

Lio sighed. “We both lost our jobs.”

Both of them had been put on catastrophe pay for the last few weeks, but now the only stores that were reopening were the stores with drive-thru windows. This ruled out most of the nearby Promepolis Coffee Co locations. Neither of them had enough seniority to make the cut with the resulting hour reduction.

“Yeah, but I was mostly working for job experience. And I kind of just liked it.”

Lio turned off his game and rolled over so he could look at Galo. “You liked that crappy job?”

“Yeah…” Galo smiled sheepishly. “It’s stupid, I know. But it was fun.”

Lio reached up to scratch the side of Galo’s head lightly. “Your sides are getting really long.”

“I know. I need to touch ‘em up.” Galo reached to take Lio’s hand. “But you’re avoiding my question.”

“I said I’m fine. My severance pay will cover a couple months’ rent. We’ve been through worse.” Lio frowned and sighed again.

“Yeah! I’m sure this’ll be over in no time.” Galo tried to sound cheerful, but even he couldn’t quite manage it. “You know what this calls for? I’ll give you a back rub, then some ice cream and Pretty Cure.”

“Okay.” Grudgingly, Lio sat up. “But if this is taking care of each other time, let me touch up your undercut.”

“Nah, I can do it.” Galo rubbed the side of his head to feel how long his hair had gotten. “It’s not big deal.”

“Galo.” Lio’s eyes narrowed. “Let me play with your hair.”

Galo laughed and kissed Lio’s forehead. “When you put it like that, how can I say no? Back rub comes first though.”

Lio looked Galo over. “Should I take my shirt off?”

“If you waaant.” Galo answered in a sing-song voice. He grabbed a throw and a couple pillows off the couch and set them out on the floor to make a massage nest.

After a moment, Lio pulled his (well, Galo’s) shirt off. “You seriously want me to lay down on the floor?”

“Yeah! It’s more effective that way.” Galo patted the blankets.

Lio slid down off the couch, still looking somewhat reluctant, but he stretched out on the blankets anyway.

“Make yourself cozy. I’ll set the mood.” Galo said as he went through his phone and found a playlist of songs to study/relax to, the one with the anime girl who was cursed (cursed!!) to study forever. “How’s that?”

“The music? It’s fine.” Lio muttered, his chin propped up on his arms.

“So where are you most tense?” Galo surveyed the expanse of Lio’s back. He looked pale and small without a shirt on. 

“Shoulders, I guess.” 

Galo nodded sagely. “That makes sense. You’ve done nothing but play on the Switch since you started your Animal Crossing island.” 

“Yeah.” Lio agreed in a flat voice.

Galo started working on Lio’s shoulders, slowly working his way out from the spine. “You are super tense. Are you always this tense?”

“Probably. Gueira always says I don’t know how to relax. Mmnf.” Lio grunted as Galo found a particularly stiff spot.

“You’re just knots all over!” Galo exclaimed as he dug his thumbs in. “Super tense. You could win an award for how tense you are.”

“You know that hurts, right?” Lio ducked his head, pressing his forehead against his arms.

“You want me to stop?”

“No, keep going. Hurts in a good way.”

Galo leaned down and kissed Lio’s hair. “Are you relaxing?”

“I’m trying.”

Slowly, Galo rubbed Lio’s neck working up to the base of Lio’s skull. “Geez, Lio. This is bad.”

“Galooo.” Lio moaned in a distinctly indecent way. “What do you mean bad?”

“All your muscles are tense.”

“We’ve already covered that.” 

Galo switched down to rub Lio’s shoulders again, taking his time to work the muscles. Lio made a little pained noise whenever Galo found a particular sore spot.

“Galo.” Lio exhaled his name this time, actually starting to relax under Galo’s hands. “Do you want to come over and water my flowers later?”

For a moment, Galo tried to figure out what Lio was implying by asking to water his flowers.

“I read on the internet that if visitors water flowers, then you’re more likely to get a hybrid flower.”

Oh, it’s Animal Crossing again. “Yeah. Sure! I’d love to come over and check out your garden.”

“I’m trying to grow a blue rose. Did you know blue roses don’t exist in real life? Mmnn.”

“What seriously??!!” Galo had never managed to grow a blue rose in his old Animal Crossing town. He ran his hands lightly over Lio’s shoulders. “I’m going to work lower, okay?”

Lio nodded and closed his eyes. The trust he placed in Galo made him feel warm all over.

They’d talked after Lio confessed he was asexual, about what both of them wanted, and decided that they would take it slow and discuss before trying anything new. Lio liked kissing and cuddling, but wasn’t really sure what he wanted after that. Galo also liked kissing and cuddling and he really wanted this to work out because he also liked Lio. This wasn’t a sex thing, but it was a touching thing, and he hadn’t really touched Lio this much in a sexy way.

And Lio felt absolutely tiny as Galo massaged the muscles around his shoulder blades. Continuing his discussion of roses, Lio explained why blue roses didn’t exist in nature (something about pigments and acids and bases) and that a company in Japan had made a blue rose but it was really lavender in color.

“How can it be lavendar and blue at the same time?” He’d moved on to Lio’s lower back by this time.

“Because — mmmm — there isn’t any red pigment.” Lio had nearly melted into the floor. “So it has only blue pigment, but it still looks lavender. That’s why blue roses in Animal Crossing are so rare…”

“When you get into something, you really get into it, huh?” Galo commented. 

“I’m kind of just trying to ignore how terrible everything is really.” Lio admitted in a monotone. “It’s play Animal Crossing or worry.”

“I get that.” Galo dug into a particularly tense spot on Lio’s back. Lio cursed under his breath which made Galo smile.

“Uff. It’s funny, I didn’t even think I’d like it when you suggested playing it.” Lio wrinkled his nose as Galo loosened up the knot in his back. “I’m normally pretty bad at — fuck, Galo! — video games.”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed.” Galo grinned, remembering the fateful Mario Kart night. 

“It’s not my fault! My parents never let me play video games!” Lio defended himself.

“Okay, that’s it.” Galo smoothed out Lio’s back as if he could remind the muscles how they were supposed to behave. “All done.”

“I don’t want to move.” Lio mumbled into the pillows. “If the firefighter thing doesn’t work out, you could go into massage therapy.”

Galo beamed. He liked when Lio said nice things about him. “I’m good with my hands.” Lio still wasn’t moving so Galo fiddled with the smaller man’s ponytail. “Do you want to eat ice cream on the floor? I think that’s next on our agenda.”

“No. That actually sounds pretty gross.” Reluctantly, Lio sat up. “Where’d my shirt go?”

Desperately trying to do anything other than just stare at Lio, Galo glanced around the living room. “Oh, uh, you mean my shirt?” He snagged it off the couch and passed it to Lio.

Lio pulled the shirt back on and Galo felt safe looking at him again. He still felt guilty for walking in on Lio changing. (It had been an accident, okay?!) “Sorry. I need to run some laundry but I can’t seem to work up any motivation to do it.”

“Why don’t you just throw your stuff in with mine and we’ll run a load tonight?” Galo grabbed his phone off the floor to turn off the relaxing time playlist. “Hey, Aina texted me. She says she has an extra sourdough start if we want it.”

“Sourdough? Really?” Lio made a face.

“What? It sounds like fun!”

“It’s so—” Lio searched for the right word. “Domestic.”

“Be domestic with me, Lio. Let’s do laundry and make sourdough and cut each other’s hair in quarantine.” Galo teased.

Lio blushed and ducked his head, smiling slightly. “You’re such an idiot. Fine, if you want, I’ll join the sourdough cult with you.”

It’s strange what Lio’s smile did to his heart. Galo loved him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is kind of just based on me and one of my friends joking around about how Lio and Galo would play Animal Crossing together. Eventually Galo turns his entire island into an obstacle course and it takes 10 minutes to get from the airport to the store. Lio teaches all of his villagers to say “eat the rich” for their catch phrase.
> 
> I think there’s probably a couple more chapters to this particular arc and then we’re moving on to the final arc. 
> 
> Next time: Who is Gov K? Do Lio and Galo remember to feed their sourdough start?


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Galo makes romantic vegetarian pasta for Lio

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: This chapter takes place during a flu pandemic

Lio pulled on one of Galo’s t-shirts, a yellow shirt emblazoned with the FDPP logo. He needed to do laundry and, with Galo having an in-unit washer-dryer, he had no excuse for not doing laundry. Like everything else lately, laundry just seemed too difficult and too much energy. Also, Galo had perfectly good t-shirts that he could steal so why not just use those?

In his sock feet, Lio padded from the guest room to Galo’s room. The door remained open a crack, but Lio knocked just to be polite.

“Hey.” Galo sat up in bed, playing something on his switch. “I was wondering if you were going to make an appearance.”

“Can I sleep with you tonight?”

Galo scooted over in the bed to make room. “Come on in.”

“Thanks.” Lio quickly closed the distance and slid under the covers with Galo.

Galo turned off his switch and reached around Lio to set it on the nightstand. “Something bugging you?”

“Just the usual.” Lio shrugged. “I’m unemployed and no one’s hiring.”

Galo nodded.

“Don’t know how we’re going to pay rent.” Lio sighed. 

This reality hung over him like a black rain cloud. Rent had always been a struggle for the three of them, but there was no amount of careful budgeting Lio could do that would make ends meet this time. It might finally the end for them and that little apartment.

“You know you’re always welcome here.” Galo rubbed a little circle on Lio’s back. “All three of you.”

That would definitely be taking advantage of Galo’s good nature. Lio picked at the blanket. “We’ll figure it out. Meis and Gueira keep reminding me we’ve been through worse.”

“Well, okay…” Galo dropped his hand. “You know you don’t have to do everything alone. You have me too.”

Lio smiled at the sweet sentiment. “Okay.”

“If I can do anything at all, I want to help.” Galo said with a completely earnest expression.

Lio nodded, letting himself believe for a moment that it was completely reasonable for Galo to take in a trio of people he’d only known for a few months. He reached over to brush some stray strands of Galo’s hair away from his eyes. There was definitely a time when he mistook Galo’s kindness for stupidity.

He was still kind of an idiot. The world wasn’t that simple for most people. Better to change the subject before he got drawn in by Galo’s idealism. “How is school going?”

“Ugggh…” Galo groaned and flopped back on the bed.

Lio laid down next to him. “Sounds as if it’s going well.”

“I don’t even get to see my friends at school now. It’s the worst of all worlds.” Galo complained to the ceiling. “All I get to do is study for finals.”

“I’ll help you study.” Lio offered.

“Thanks.” Galo pulled the covers up and Lio snuggled closer. “If you could go back to school, would you?”

“Yeah.” Lio answered simply. 

Galo smiled. “You should do it! I’ll help you look for scholarships!”

With one hand, Lio reached up to run his fingers over the shaved part of Galo’s head. He closed his eyes, relaxing under Lio’s fingertips. Things were never as simple as Galo made them out, but Lio wanted them to be.

“Mmm… You know…” Galo spoke while keeping his eyes closed. “I wouldn’t have thought you much into cuddling when I first met you.”

“I guess I come off a little prickly at first.”

Galo smiled, cracking his eyes open. “Just a little. But I’m glad I get to see this side of you.”

“I’m glad I gave you a chance.”

Galo closed his eyes again. He really was a sucker for having his hair played with. “You ready for date night tomorrow?”

“You’re really not going to tell me what you’re planning?”

“Then it wouldn’t be a surprise!”

“What if I don’t like surprises?” Lio asked.

“You’re gonna like this one.”

“I’ll get the lights.” Lio sat up, swung his legs out of the bed and traveled the short distance to the light switch. He’d gotten familiar enough with the layout of Galo’s room that the return trip in the dark was easy.

“Welcome back.” Galo said as Lio cuddled up to him.

“I’m gonna miss this when I go back home.” Lio sighed as he settled.

Galo didn’t answer.

—————————

“Galo, you got a package from—”

Before Lio could finish reading, Galo put his hand over the shipping label. “Lio! That’s a surprise!”

Lio shook the package a little. Something weighty rattled around inside.

“Lio!” Galo said as if scandalized. He lifted the package out of Lio’s arms. “I bet you’re the type of person who can’t wait until Christmas to open up his presents.”

Lio thought back to his most recent Christmas when he’d been fighting off a hang over. “Christmas was never my favorite holiday.”

“I’m so glad this arrived in time. I was worried.” Galo patted the shipping label fondly. “I need to finish getting ready so I’m banishing you to the office.”

Lio sighed. “Fine, fine.” He stood on his tiptoes to kiss Galo on the cheek. “Should I dress up for our date?”

Galo brightened. “Yeah! I’m taking you out only to the finest places tonight.”

“Okay. I’m going to call Meis and Gueira, but let me know if you need anything.”

“Just don’t peek!” Galo warned, his voice stern.

Lio retreated to the office. He was intensely curious what Galo had planned, but would behave himself as promised. He texted Gueira instead.

Lio: How do I video call again?

Gueira: Boss :(

Gueira: Why are you so bad at your phone

Lio: Relax. I’m kidding.

Gueira: ARE YOU

Gueira: Just call us we miss you!!

Slowly, Lio went through the app, occasionally hitting the wrong buttons. He checked his hair really fast before selecting the call button.

“BOSS!” Gueira cried out as soon as he picked up the call, his face blurry and taking up most of the screen.

Despite himself, Lio smiled. “You’re too close.”

“I want to see his face too.” Meis added in from off camera.

“What’ve you two been up to?” Lio asked.

“Ugh. Working.” Gueira complained. “It’s so busy lately.”

Lio’s heart faltered.

“You asshole.” Meis lightly shoved Gueira.

“It’s okay.” Lio shrugged. “I’ll find a job soon.”

“You’re really smart! They’re all fools if they don’t hire you!” Gueira stated as Lio’s eternal cheerleader.

Meis angled the phone a bit so he could be on screen. “You can do better than that coffee shop anyway.”

“I almost miss it. Almost.” Lio added in when he saw his friend’s horrified faces. “I have my GED now. That’ll make the job hunt easier.”

“Yeah! If you get really desperate, I think we’re hiring.” Gueira suggested.

“Yeah.” Imagine him working for the Foresight Foundation even in the warehouse. 

“They gave us branded face masks. Like, wow, what a treat.” Gueira laughed.

“They’re really bad, but they make us wear them.” Meis added. “I’ll send you a picture.”

A moment later, Lio’s phone buzzed. “Can I look at it without closing the app?”

“I don’t know, can you?” Gueira snickered.

Lio flipped him off. “I don’t know why I missed you guys.”

“Look!” Gueira leaned to the side so Lio could see the rest of the apartment. “We haven’t burned anything down yet.”

“I’m very proud of you.” Lio answered dryly.

Meis took his opportunity to slid more into view of the phone’s camera. “What’re you up, boss? Galo treating you well?”

“He’s been great.” Lio ducked his head, smiling slightly.

“Oh no.” Gueira muttered. “I know that look.”

“What look?” Lio asked, eyes narrowing.

“I saw it.” Meis said.

“What look?!” Lio demanded.

“He’s smitten.” Meis commented.

Gueira nodded. “Twitterpated. Infatuated.”

“Disgustingly in love.”

“I- That’s- You can’t just decide that for me!” Lio’s face turned red. 

Gueira laughed at Lio while Meis tried to study him through the phone screen. “How do you feel about him then?” Meis asked.

“I don’t know!” Lio snapped irritably. “How— How am I supposed to know if it’s love?”

Meis considered the question. “It’s different for everyone.”

“Yeah.” Gueira threw his arms around Meis. “Sometimes love is meeting a cute boy because you’re both trying to shoplift at the same corner store.”

“Well, I’m not you two.”

“Boss, if I know you, you’re over-thinking everything, waiting for some kind of definitive proof.” Meis continued with his thought. “What kind of face do you think Galo would make if you told him that you loved him?”

“I don’t know…”

“Do you think it would be taking a risk and finding out?”

—————————

Out of boredom, Lio looked up youtube videos on guitar chords. He didn’t think Galo would mind if he used the lonely guitar stashed in a corner of the office. By the time Galo cracked the door open, Lio could play three chords, very slowly.

“I didn’t know you played.” Galo watched him eagerly. “Are you going to sing?”

Lio nodded to the computer screen. “I got bored.”

Galo waited, eyes bright. Lio realized he still wanted to hear Lio sing. “Is— Is date night ready?”

“Oh yeah! Should we get changed?”

Lio stood up, replacing the guitar back in its stand. “Sure.”

“Okay. I’ll pick you up in five minutes?” Galo nearly bounced with excitement.

“From where?” Lio smiled.

“Your room.”

The room where Lio had been sometimes sleeping would be better described as Smoky’s room. “You don’t need to pick me up from the guest room.”

“I’m being a gentleman!” Galo insisted.

Galo walked Lio to the guest room, standing between him and the rest of the condo so he couldn’t peek. Just to egg Galo on, Lio tried to non-covertly sneak a few glances past him.

“Hey! Cheater!!” Galo stuck his arm out as if that only could block Lio’s vision.

Lio laughed and stepped into the guest room. “You’d better not be late to pick me up.”

“I wouldn’t want to keep my date waiting.”

Lio hadn’t brought much in the way of options for date clothes. At most, he could at least put a clean t-shirt on. Galo knocked quietly on the door. 

“That wasn’t five minutes.” Lio observed as he opened the door.

“You told me not to be late.” Galo leaned down and kissed Lio’s forehead. “Besides, I’m excited. Just imagine I’m pulling up on my motorcycle.”

“Okay. Imagine my roommates are seeing me off.” Lio kept his face deadpan. “If you harm one hair on his head, then I’m going to rip your arm off.”

“I promise I’ll take care of him, Gueira.” Galo pointed behind himself with his thumb. “Hop on.”

“This is incredibly embarrassing.” Lio commented as he stood behind Galo.

“I think you mean incredibly fun. Hold on!” Once Lio put his arms around Galo, as if he were on the back of Galo’s motorcycle, Galo pretended to put the motorcycle in gear. “Vroooom!”

“Your motorcycle goes vroom?”

“Yes. We’re pretending, Lio.” Galo shuffled down the hallway with Lio in tow. “Oh no, traffic! I hope we can get downtown in time.”

“You idiot.” Lio laughed. He’d hit the part of quarantine where any break from the monotony was a welcome relief.

Sheets blocked off Lio’s view of the living room and Galo steered them through a kitchen that looked a bit like something had exploded and smelled like garlic. More sheets blocked off the dining area. Lio didn’t know Galo even owned this many sheets.

“Let me get the door.” Galo dashed forward and pulled back a sheet.

Past the sheets, the lights were dimmed with half a dozen fake votive candles flickering on top of the dining table. Galo held his chair for him and Lio sat down.

“You made a menu?” Lio picked up the hand-lettered sheet of paper. “Fancy Pants Restaurant. I don’t know if I’m dressed nice enough.”

“I think you look great.” Galo pretended to look at his menu.

The menu contained exactly one item, the ‘dayly special’ pasta and garlic bread. “No wonder this took you all afternoon.”

“I had fun.” Galo grinned.

“I think I’ve decided what I’ll order.” Lio set his menu down on the table.

“Oh yeah?”

“Do you recommend the daily special?” Lio asked.

“For sure.”

“Then I’ll get that.”

Smiling, Galo hopped to his feet and disappeared behind the sheet. Plates clanked around in the kitchen. Lio waited, feeling very silly, but also strangely happy. 

“How much garlic bread do you want?” Galo asked from the kitchen.

“A normal amount?”

Galo returned with two plates of pasta. He set one in front of Lio and the other at his plate. “Hold on.” Galo darted back into the kitchen and returned with a basket of garlic bread. “I love garlic bread. I don’t think I know what’s a normal amount.”

“This smells amazing…” Lio stared at the plate of pasta.

“I hope it tastes better than amazing!” Galo unfolded his napkin and set it in his lap. “It’s summer squash and basil. Plus lots of cheese because all pasta tastes better with cheese.”

Lio scooped some up onto his fork and took a bite. “Galo. This is really good.”

“It better! I spent more time on it than anything else!” Galo started to shovel pasta into his face, only taking a break to take a slice of the garlic bread.

Lio took a sip of his water which was in a wine glass to make it look fancy. “Is this the romantic pasta dinner you’ve been wanting to make for me?”

“Yup.” Galo said around a mouth full of food.

Lio smiled, watching light from the battery-powered candles flicker over Galo’s face. “It’s very good. I feel my power levels increasing.”

“Oh really?”

“Think I’ll eat a bunch of garlic and go fight a vampire.” Lio reached and grabbed some garlic bread as well. 

“Hmm…” Galo thought. “You wear a lot of black. Are you sure you’re not the vampire?”

“If I was a vampire, could I do this?” Lio asked and took huge bite of the garlic bread.

“I’m convinced.” Galo scooped up more pasta. “I still haven’t taken you to the firehouse. Anything you want to do after this is all over?”

Lio considered. “It’ll be summer soon. Maybe we could go to the ocean.”

“Lio! You’re a genius!” Galo exclaimed. 

“Why? What for?”

Galo nodded to himself. “Go to the beach in the summer. Very good idea.”

“It’s common sense.”

“Have you gone up Promepolis Tower yet?” Galo asked. “I think it’d be fun to look at all the touristy stuff this summer. You know, you never go do those things when you live here, but you didn’t grow up here.”

“I went up the tower once when I first got to Promepolis. I guess I don’t really get what the big deal is.”

“It was built for the world’s fair! And it has that cool silhouette. Plus it spins at the top and you can see the whole city.” Galo enthused. “I went once in grade school as part of a field trip, so I haven’t been in a really long time.”

“They took grade school kids to downtown Promepolis?” Lio asked. “What if one of them got lost?”

“Lucky for you there were no kidnappers about on that fateful day. Oh!” Galo sat up straighter to punctuate his words. “There’s the big outdoor market, have you been there?”

Lio shook his head.

“It’s really cool. I used to go there with gran in the summer. There’s the stalls with all the flowers and the ones that sell vegetables… Oh yeah, and there’s one that just sells maps!”

“Maps?”

“Yeah, it’s cool! One day, I’m going to find my treasure map.” Galo nodded seriously.

Lio couldn’t say he’d ever wanted to go to the over-crowded tourist trap, but Galo’s enthusiasm was catching. “I guess you’ll have to show me the very cool map stall.”

“There’s the sculpture park… Or the art museum…” Galo counted off the attractions on his fingers. “I’ve never gone to half these places before, but I think it would be fun with you.”

“We have Meis and Gueira’s wedding too.” Lio added. The phrase sounded odd coming out of his mouth.

“Did they pick a date?”

“Not yet. Summers are pretty usual for weddings though, but leave it up to the two of them to want to get married in the fall.” Lio sighed. He hated to admit it, but he missed his roommates. “I should probably go home soon.”

All of Galo’s enthusiasm disappeared. He stared down at his plate. “Yeah.”

—————————

Galo made edible cookie dough for dessert. Lio didn’t know what to think of the idea at first, but in the end, he couldn’t stop eating it. “This was too much food.” Lio muttered.

“No such thing. We’ll just have to go for an extra long jog tomorrow.” Galo patted his stomach.

“Ugh.” Lio couldn’t think about jogging at that very moment.

“Are you ready for phase two of date night?”

Lio didn’t really want to move, but he also wanted to see what Galo had set up in the living room. He took a deep breath to prepare himself. “Yes, I’m ready. Do you need to drive us to our next destination?”

“See, Lio. You’re starting to get it. This is a very special location so I think I better drive us. Hop on!” Galo stood up.

“Inside the restaurant?” Lio asked, pretending to be scandalized.

“I know how to make both an entrance and an exit!”

Lio laughed and got to his feet as well. “The waiter is coming to yell at us for bringing your motorcycle in here.”

“Who brings a motorcycles into a restaurant?”

“You do apparently!” Lio held onto Galo, wrapping his arms around the taller man’s waist. Galo inhaled sharply when Lio rested his head against Galo’s back.

“Okay! Let’s- Let’s go! Vah-roooom!” Galo pretended to drive the two of them out of the dining area, past the sheets that made up the restaurant and through the messy kitchen. Lio had to loosen his grip on Galo so they could walk without tangling their feet up. “Ready for the big reveal?”

“I’m ready.”

Galo pulled back one of the sheets screening off the living room and Lio stepped through the makeshift portal. A rather impressively built blanket fort took up the center of the living room, involving every piece of furniture that was usually in the living room. Galo had arranged white string lights around the top of the fort and a nest of more blankets inside the fort.

“I’m taking you camping!” Galo dived into the blanket fort.

Lio climbed in after him. “I’m not much of one for the outdoors.”

“This is bug free camping, I promise you.” Galo squirmed around making himself comfortable, then patted the spot next to him.

“So what do one do while indoor camping?” Lio asked as stretched out next to Galo.

“I thought we could start with a movie. Sorry, I need to set the TV up.”

Lio scooted so Galo could sit up. “Which movie?”

The two of them had discussed a long list of films that Galo had been shocked to discover Lio had never seen. Galo had a passion for anime that Lio lacked simply for a lack of exposure. So far, he’d watched a movie about a thief who was trying to steal a castle and another about homeless people at Christmas.

“Kiki’s Delivery Service!” Galo announced as he opened up the bluray case. The opening into the blanket tent was wide enough that Lio could see the television unobstructed from his spot on the floor.“Do you want to watch in English or Japanese?”

“I’ll read subtitles. Let’s watch in Japanese.”

“Excellent choice.” Once the movie started, Galo flopped back down into the blanket nest. Lio got himself cozy next to Galo.

As the movie played, Lio caught Galo humming along quietly to the soundtrack on more than one occasion. He glanced over at Galo, Galo looked back at him and Lio’s face started to feel warm. With an annoyed huff, Lio turned his attention back to the movie. Galo had no business looking that good when he smiled.

Galo remained quiet until the credits finished rolling. When the last song finished playing, he rolled over to face Lio. “It’s good, right?”

Lio nodded. “I liked the cat. Jiji, I think?”

“Oh yeah! Jiji’s great. Do you think you could really build a flying bike like in the movie?” Galo asked.

“Probably not. But maybe Lucia would have ideas how to make that work.”

Galo pondered that for a while.

“Just don’t let her talk you into doing anything stupid.” Lio warned.

“If I’m going to ask her to make something for me, then I want a mech suit.” Galo concluded.

“You don’t want her to turn you into a Pretty Cure?”

“I’d have to find my magical guardian to do that, Lio.” Galo sighed as if it were unfortunate that Lio didn’t know this piece of common knowledge. “Anyway, there’s something else I want to show you. Close your eyes.”

“Okay, but this better not be something stupid.” Lio covered his eyes with his hands. 

“It’s not, I promise.” Galo kissed Lio’s hair briefly before climbing out of the blanket fort. Lio could hear Galo humming a song from the movie as he walked around the living room. “Are you eyes closed?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.” Galo climbed back into the blanket fort. “You can open them now.”

Lio lowered his hands to stars and lights projected onto the walls of the living room. 

“It’s a star projector! It just showed up today. Aaaand…!” Galo picked up his phone and turned on a playlist of forest night sounds. “Let’s say we got a camping spot out at the frozen lake.”

“Okay.” Lio stuck his head out of the fort and looked around at all the stars. “Is this what you were being so mysterious about earlier?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Did you have fun setting all this up?” Lio asked, turning to Galo.

“Yup. I wanted to surprise you. Did I do a good job?”

“You did a wonderful job. I like it very much.” Lio slid closer to Galo and kissed him. “Are we having a slumber party out here?”

“If you want to. I think it would be fun.”

Lio pulled Galo in for another kiss. Galo’s arms were around him, his mouth hot. 

“I want to take your shirt off…” Galo said breathlessly when the kiss broke off. “Can I?”

Lio nodded. “Only if I can take your shirt off.”

Galo grinned. “Cool.” Finding the hem of Lio’s shirt, Galo made short work of pulling his t-shirt off and setting it aside. He ran his hand down Lio’s side. “Wow. You’re, um, wow…”

“My turn.” As Galo had actually worn a button up shirt to their date night, Lio felt as if it took an agonizing amount of time to undo each of the buttons. Once Lio tugged the shirt off, he looked Galo over. “Where is it okay to touch you?”

“Anywhere you want, Lio.”

Lio wondered just how bright red he was at the moment. “I’m not sure I know where to start.”

“Because you don’t like this or…?” Galo asked.

“I like it!” Lio’s voice came out higher than he’d meant it to. “I just haven’t really… done this before…”

Galo took Lio’s hand and placed it on his shoulder. “How about right there? It’s a nice neutral territory.”

Lio ran his hand over the skin of Galo’s shoulder. It was warm and smooth, firm muscle under his hand. “I want to touch you other places, but I don’t know if it’s okay. I don’t want to lead you on.”

“It’s definitely okay. Go for it, Lio.”

With Galo’s encouragement, Lio ran his fingers over Galo’s collarbones. 

“Your fingers are cold.” 

“Sorry. I’ll warm them up.” Lio placed his hands flat against Galo’s chest before he could think about it. 

“On me?!” Galo laughed.

Unbidden, something Gueira said months ago flashed into Lio’s mind. ‘Do you think I could get away with giving Galo’s chest a big ol’ honk?’

Lio started to snicker.

“Uh, Lio…?” Galo asked.

“Sorry. Guess I can’t stop feeling awkward about this.” Lio kissed Galo on the cheek.

Galo gave Lio a fond smile. “That’s okay. This kind of stuff is funny if you think about it.” He tucked some of Lio’s hair behind his ear. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Why is it only one earring?”

Lio reached up to touch his singular earring. “It used to be two, but I lost the other one. I thought it looked cool.”

“It’s just because it looks cool?” Galo laughed. “Lio, I lov—” He cut himself off and covered his mouth. “Sorry! I said I wouldn’t say it.”

“It’s okay.” Lio said softly. Then he made himself look up into Galo’s eyes, because he wanted to see his face. “I love you, Galo.”

Galo’s face immediately brightened into his best smile. “Really?”

Lio nodded.

“Can I say it now?”

“Yeah.”

“I love you too!” Galo leaned closer and kissed Lio on the nose, cheek, anything he could reach. “I really do. I love you.”

Lio found himself giggling. “Galo… I love you too.”

It felt nice to say.

Galo sniffled. “Oh no…”

Lio reached up to smooth Galo’s cheeks. His heart melted. “Are you crying?”

“Just a little. I’m happy, I promise.” Galo pulled Lio just a little closer. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me.” Lio held Galo, his face pressed into Galo’s shoulder. “That’s weird.”

“I will if I want to.” Galo replied, scrubbing his face with the back of his hands.

An unhappy ‘mmrreeeow’ from behind Lio made him jump.

“Uh-oh. I guess it is dinner time for Smoky.” Galo let go of Lio. “He’s a very hungry boy.”

Lio retrieved his t-shirt. “You should probably feed him. Then we can start the dishes.”

“Dishes?! Lio.” Galo gave Lio puppy dog eyes.

Lio closed his eyes so he wouldn’t fall prey to the sad expression. “I won’t fall for that. We’ll be happy tomorrow that we did the dishes tonight.”

“Fine, fine, but after that, we’re going stargazing.”

—————————

Lio and Galo lay side-by-side with their heads sticking out of the blanket fort, watching the slowly rotating stars on the ceiling. Between the stars and the soft forest night noises from Galo’s phone, Lio could almost squint and imagine he was camping with Galo — if not for the fluffy gray cat who had situated himself between the two of them.

Careful not to disturb Smoky, Lio reached over and took hold of Galo’s hand. Galo turned his head and Lio smiled when their eyes met.

“You know, you don’t have to go.” Galo said quietly.

“Hm?” Lio raised an eyebrow at the uncharacteristic lack of volume.

“Back to your apartment with Meis and Gueira. You can stay here.” Galo hesitated and looked away. “I mean, if you wanted. You could stay here as long as you want.”

Lio frowned. “Do you mean… Are you asking me to move in?”

“Yeah. I guess if you wanted. You could.” When Lio didn’t answer, Galo just continued onward. “I know it’s only been five months, but I really like having you here. And it’s been fun! If you stay, we can have more fun!”

“Galo…”

“AND!” Galo plunged ahead. “I’m pretty nice on the eyes. I help out with dishes even if I made a really big dinner. I like blanket forts, old cats and long walks along the beach.”

“Galo.”

“It’s just… It gets lonely here and I hate it. You like it here, don’t you? You could move in. You can stay in the guest room if you wanted. Then it wouldn’t be a guest room, it would be a Lio room. It would be great.”

“I—” It was tempting. Galo was good and sweet. He never seemed to want for money or to worry about how to feed himself or his roommates. “I can’t.”

Galo smiled sadly. “Yeah. I thought so.”

“I can’t just leave Meis and Gueira. It takes all three of us to make that apartment work and I couldn’t just leave them to fend for themselves.” Lio felt as if he were making excuses.

Galo sighed. “I know.”

“Also, I don’t really like the idea of being financially dependent on you. I want to find a job first.” Lio continued.

And there were other, more nebulous concerns. The two of them had never really fought before and he didn’t really know what would happen. Lio still wasn’t convinced that Galo wouldn’t eventually prefer a boyfriend who had a greater interest in sex. And what Aina had said about Galo falling in love too easily still bothered him. Did Galo fall out of love just as easily?

“There’s still some things I need to take care of first.” Lio concluded. “But if you’re serious, if you really want me to move in with you, then…” Lio’s voice came out small and uncertain “I think I’d like that too.”

Galo’s face changed from defeated to cautious to optimistic.

“Maybe it’s something we can work toward together?” Lio suggested. “Is that an okay answer?”

“So it’s not a no?” Galo asked.

Lio shook his head. “I need time, but I’d like to make it work out.”

Galo nodded. “Then we’ll make it work out! It’s as easy as that!”

Lio smiled and squeezed Galo’s hand. He would believe, for now, that things would work themselves out in the end. That it really was as easy as that. If Galo believed, maybe so could he.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for being patient while I didn’t update this for… a while…
> 
> It took multiple chapters, but Lio finally said that word.
> 
> Edit: Wow, I realized this is basically the one year anniversary of when I first started posting this.
> 
> Next time: Will Lio and Smokey ever make peace? Will summer ever arrive?


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lio begins the job hunt

“Thanks for driving me.” Lio hugged Galo tightly. “And for letting me stay with you for so long.”

Galo leaned down so he could hold Lio. “Of course. Need help carrying your bags up?”

“Do you really want to face my roommates after you’ve kidnapped me for a month?” Lio asked. 

Galo considered this. “What’s the worst they can do to me?”

Lio shrugged. It was Galo’s funeral. Together, the two of them made the trek from the lobby of Lio’s apartment building up to his unit. Lio fumbled digging his keys out since they’d fallen to the bottom of his bag from disuse. He slid the key into the lock and let himself into the apartment.

“I’m home.” Lio called out.

“BOSS!” Gueira nearly ran from the living room to tackle Lio in a hug. “I missed you!”

Meis joined them at the entryway, wrapping Gueira and Lio in his arms. “Welcome home.”

—————————

“So why do you want to work here?”

Lio looked the woman conducting the interview dead in the eye and lied. “I used to work at the Promepolis Coffee Company location on Third and I really enjoyed it. I’m hoping I can be part of the team again.”

Of course, the real answer was that he needed money to eat and live. Both of them knew that.

“We spoke with your supervisor and she had nothing but nice things to say about you.”

Thank you, Aina. “I’m so happy to hear that.”

“Next question. If you were a crayon in a box, what color would you be and why?”

Lio plastered a smile on his face as he wondered what the hell that meant. “Pink flamingo. It’s such a vibrant color and I’ve always been a fan of flamingos.”

He was dying inside. Slowly.

“If somebody close to you asked you to do something illegal, what would you do?”

Lio was sweating. “Why? What kind of crime is it?”

“Huh?”

That was clearly not the right answer. “Law. Yes. Big fan of laws. Law is what keeps society running. And if it wasn’t for laws, then this world would be in chaos. I’m especially not into shoplifting or stealing from my employers.”

—————————

Lio scrutinized the prices for different bean varieties at the store. He had to make his severance check last as long as possible until he found a new job. The budget was giving him a headache.

Behind him, Gueira pushed an empty shopping cart down the aisle. Once he got up to speed, Gueira hopped onto the rail at the bottom and rode the cart to the other end. “Whoo! New record!”

“My cart has a busted wheel.” Meis complained.

“Tch. You just can’t beat the champ!” Gueira strutted at the far end of the aisle. 

Lio looked over his list again. “Meis, do you want to make lentil soup?”

“Sure, boss.” Meis agreed easily. 

“Are we on a beans and lentils diet again?” Gueira complained. With a disgusted sigh, he climbed into the shopping cart. “Push me, Meis.”

“You big baby. Can’t push my cart and your cart at the same time.” Meis shrugged.

“I’m the champion and I say push me!” Gueira declared.

“Meis makes a very good lentil soup.” Lio added in defensively.

Pouting, Gueira crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m tired of lentils.”

“Your face will freeze like that.” Meis poked Gueira in the lip.

“Okay, mom.”

“If you behave yourself, I’ll give you candy.” Lio shook his cross body bag.

“Candy!” Gueira perked up, then eyed Lio suspiciously. “But what kind of candy? I don’t want your weird pocket candy.”

“Galo gave me some peach candies he gets at the fancy Asian grocery store.” Lio patted his bag.

Reluctantly, Gueira climbed out of the shopping cart. “Have you two ever thought about how peaches kind of look like butts?”

Grinning, Meis took a handful of Gueira’s booty. “Now that you mention it, I can feel the resemblance.”

Lio rolled his eyes and pushed the cart to the next aisle. Much to his surprise, the usual girl from the laundromat stood in the aisle, looking over canned soups.

“Hey, it’s Bubblegum!” Gueira crowed when he spotted her. “How’s the ol’ laundromat?”

Noting the earbuds, Lio shook his head. “I don’t think she wants to be bothered.”

But the laundromat attendant removed her earbuds and flashed them a brief smile. “Didn’t know you three shopped here.” She nodded at each of them in turn. “Redhead. Pretty boy. Goth cowboy.”

Gueira cracked up at goth cowboy. 

“It’s April, by the way. Not bubblegum.” She shot Gueira a dirty look.

Lio added his own glare into the mix. “Ignore him. He’s being especially obnoxious today.” 

“Meis. Gueira. Lio.” Meis pointed to himself and then the others. In all the time they’d been going to the laundromat, they’d never actually introduced themselves. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Man, I’m gonna miss that place. Where are we going to do our laundry now?” Gueira stopped laughing to join the conversation.

“We’re still open for a few weeks. You can always come by and say hi.” April shrugged. 

“You have anything else lined up?” Meis asked.

She shook her head. “Might just focus on school until the semester is over. By the way, some people in the neighborhood are organizing a protest against the new Foresight building.”

“What do you mean?” Lio asked.

“Oh, they bought another building on the block to expand the store and make it a whole-” she added sarcastic finger quotes “-future shopping destination.”

“What the fuck does that even mean?” Gueira asked.

“They’re putting in a smoothie shop.”

“Shit.” Meis and Gueira commented at the same time.

April turned to Lio. “We’ve been organizing the demonstration online. I’ll send the details to your phone.”

Gueira laughed and put an arm around Lio’s shoulder. “Better send the details to me. He’s hopeless when it comes to technology.”

“I’m not hopeless.” Lio shoved Gueira off of him. 

Gueira and April exchanged information.

“Hope you three can make it.” April tucked her phone back into her pocket.

“Sure.” Lio agreed easily. Not like he had a job to keep him away.

She put her earbuds back in and turned her attention back to the canned soup.

Gueira grinned widely as he walked down the grocery store aisle. “I think we just got invited to some civil disobedience.”

—————————

Lio walked into the florist, phone with directions held tightly in his hand. The interior was modern and sleek looking — white walls, wood floors, minimalist displays of flowers. He walked up to the counter which was currently unattended.

No wonder they were looking to hire someone.

Craning his neck, Lio looked to see if there was any way to get the attention of another employee. “Hello?” he called out.

A man with roughly ten years on Lio stepped out of the backroom. “Sorry. Didn’t see you come in. How can I help you?”

“I have a job interview scheduled. I’m Lio Fotia.”

The man’s eyes widened. “Oh. You’re early. If I’m being honest, you don’t look quite old enough.”

“I hope being early isn’t a problem.” Every interview guide he’d seen told him that you were supposed to show up early for interviews.

“Not a problem at all, Lio. Let me call someone up front and we can get started.”

The man disappeared into the back. Lio was left to look around the store. Minutes rolled by and some paranoid part of Lio started to wonder if this was all part of some pre-interview test. Was he supposed to do something? Look interested in plants?

At long last, the man returned from the back with another employee to watch the front. “Follow me.”

The man led Lio through a disorganized backroom with flowers on every available surface. He didn’t take Lio to an office, just two chairs in the corner of the back in front of an ancient looking computer. The man grabbed a clipboard as he took his seat.

“So. Lio Fotia.” The man looked over whatever was on the clipboard. “Why do you want to work here?”

—————————

World’s #1 Idiot: I miss u (´。＿。｀)

Lio: Shouldn’t you be in class right now?

World’s #1 Idiot: Lio its lunch! Im eating lunch!

World’s #1 Idiot: Don’t u miss me 2? 〒▽〒

Lio : I miss you. Eating lunch with you sounds nice. What are you having?

World’s #1 Idiot: Just left overs but I wish I codu have lunch w u 

World’s #1 Idiot: What r u eatin (╹ڡ╹ )

Lio: I haven’t had lunch yet.

Lio: I should probably take a break

World’s #1 Idiot: YEAH taek a brake (/≧▽≦)/

Lio set his phone down and stretched. Even if things were opening up again, there were too many people looking for jobs and not enough to go around. Meis and Gueira were both at work. He felt bad being the only one without anything to do during the day.

World’s #1 Idiot: Did u do it did u take a brake? (●'◡'●)

Galo was certain to bug him until he actually got up and got himself some lunch. It would have been simple to lie, but Lio didn’t like the idea of lying to Galo. He made the short trek from the couch, where he’d set up Gueira’s borrowed laptop, to the kitchen.

He poked his head into the fridge. His options were leftover fried rice or leftover fried rice. 

Lio: I’m having leftovers too

World’s #1 Idiot: (≧∇≦)ﾉ

World’s #1 Idiot: Nice

World’s #1 Idiot: What kind

Lio: Fried rice

Lio: But guess what? The fried rice is also made with leftovers

Lio: I’m eating leftover leftovers

World’s #1 Idiot: （⊙ｏ⊙）

World’s #1 Idiot: Mind blown

World’s #1 Idiot: I sent u sumthing in ur email

As if on queue, Lio’s phone vibrated to alert him to a new e-mail. While he waited for his fried rice to reheat in the microwave, he read through the e-mail from Galo — a long list of different scholarships for school in the fall.

Lio: These are all for Promepolis University

World’s #1 Idiot: Yah it wold be fun if we can go 2 school together!!! ( •̀ ω •́ )✧

In his kitchen, Lio smiled to himself. He briefly imagined walking through the Promepolis U campus together with Galo, holding hands. 

Lio: Can you give me a campus tour?

World’s #1 Idiot: YESSSS I would luv 2

World’s #1 Idiot: So r u gonna do it

World’s #1 Idiot: R u gonna apply to school

Of course, he should say no. The realistic thing to do would be to say no. Putting together an application would be a lot of work and it would cost money better spent elsewhere.

Lio: Yes

World’s #1 Idiot: Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay

World’s #1 Idiot: ♪(^∇^*)

World’s #1 Idiot: I hope u can do it

World’s #1 Idiot: NO

World’s #1 Idiot: I no u can do it

World’s #1 Idiot: LIO!!!

World’s #1 Idiot: I belief in u

Lio typed in something into the search engine on his phone. After a bit of searching he found just the right thing. He sent Galo a picture of cat who, for some inexplicable reason, had his head through a piece of bread.

World’s #1 Idiot: Awwww u sent me a cat picture

And before Lio knew it, Galo sent him half a dozen cat pictures of cats sticking their head through slices of bread in return. 

—————————

A small bell jangled over the door as Lio stepped into the bookstore. A small cafe area sat just to the left of the entrance, the smell of coffee mingling with the smell of books. Lio turned and stepped up to the counter. 

A girl with multiple piercings and her curly hair pulled back into a loose braid greeted him. “Welcome to the Little Lovelace Cafe.”

“I’m Lio Fotia. I’m here for the interview.” Lio smiled in a way that he hoped looked friendly.

“Oh, that’s you! I’ll get the boss, hold on.” She turned and hollered deeper into the bookstore. “Boss!! Your appointment is here!”

A young man with glasses appeared shortly afterward. “Lio Fotia? I’m Pierce.”

They shook hands. Lio hoped it was just firm enough.

“Excellent, right this way.”

He followed Pierce through the bookstore, noting the titles of the books. When Lio applied for the position at the cafe inside the bookstore, he’d had no idea what Lovelace Technical Books meant. The books all seemed to be relating to science and technology — topics ranged from robotics to programming languages to fun experiments to do with kids. Given his ineptitude with his phone, Lio already had a sinking feeling about this particular interview.

“Are you a student?” Pierce asked as he opened a door into the back room.

“Not right now. I’ve been taking a break.” Lio admitted, although his ‘break’ was fairly extended. He wasn’t sure if it would help or hinder his case to add that he was planning to apply to school in the fall. 

The man nodded, adjusting his glasses. “Take a seat.”

Lio pointed to a large brightly colored Clash-bots poster on the wall. “Are you a Clash-bots fan?”

Pierce laughed, looking slightly embarrassed. “Yes, you could say that. I’ve yet to get a bot past prelims, but one day I’ll get something into the ring. What’s your favorite team?”

“The Luciadores by default, I guess.”

“It’s a shame they lost in the finals, but what a match, huh?” Pierce indicate the chair at the far side of a small table in the back room that must have doubled as their break room.

Lio seated himself in the indicated chair. “Lucia’s already making plans for improving their bot. She was so mad that they lost in the championship.”

“Wait, you know Lucia? Lucia of the Luciadores?” Pierce asked, wide-eyed.

“Yeah.”

Pierce suddenly took on a calculating look. “Do you think you could talk her into doing an appearance at the bookstore?”

“Probably.” Lio considered exactly how many bags of candy he’d have to bribe her with. 

“Well.” Abruptly, Pierce opened up the laptop on the table in front of him. “Why do you want to work at the Little Lovelace Cafe?”

—————————

“Okay, boss. Time for a break.” Gueira picked up the laptop from in front of Lio who was hunched in front of the coffee table.

Lio grabbed for the laptop. “I’m job hunting.”

“How long have you been staring at that screen? Even you need a break.”

“Do not.”

Gueira reached down to ruffle Lio’s hair. “Somebody has to call you back soon. How’d the interview at the bookstore go? Didn’t you say you aced that one?”

“I said no such thing.” Lio leaned back on the floor, stretching out his back. “It’s a technical bookstore. He kept asking me if I had any experience with computers or studied chemistry. Stuff like that.”

Gueira grimaced. “I mean… you’re not that bad with computers.”

“Think I can cross that one off my list of places I can expect to hear back from.” Lio sighed.

Gueira plopped down on the couch. “You’ll find something, boss. I believe in you.”

Lio closed his eyes.

“Don’t fall asleep on the floor.” Gueira warned him.

Getting up took too much effort.

“Boss, what’s this? Promepolis Community College?”

Shit. Lio forgot he still had that tab open. He sat up.

“You thinking about going back to school?”

Meis spared Lio having to answer the question by returning from his usual evening trip out to the building roof. He kicked his boots off by the door. “You two want to watch a movie?”

“Meis! Boss is applying to Promepolis Community College!” Gueira called out.

“So what?!” Lio demanded, jumping to his feet. “It’s not a stupid idea.”

“I never said it was!” Gueira hopped to his feet as well, angrily staring down Lio. “In fact, I think it’s a really good idea! I think you should do it!”

Lio glared right back, not one to let someone intimidate him. Then he processed Gueira’s words. “You do?”

Meis stepped past Lio to kiss Gueira on the cheek and take one end of the couch. “I think it’s a good idea too.”

Sighing, Lio sank down to the floor. “Galo brought it up.”

“Is it something you want to do?” Meis asked. Gueira relaxed and sat next to Meis.

“There’s no way we can afford it.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

Lio hesitated before nodding. “Yeah.”

“Dude! You should do it!” Gueira exclaimed.

Lio had been expecting teasing, not unabashed encouragement. He felt touched enough that he didn’t even correct Gueira that he wasn’t a dude. “You two really think so?”

Meis nodded. “Boss. Once you put your mind to something you can do anything. I’ve seen you take on stuff a lot scarier than balancing school and work.”

“Besides!” Gueira added in enthusiastically. “We’re counting on you to support us in our old age. We need you to get that degree so you can bring home the big money.”

“Right.” Lio abandoned the floor take over the far end of the couch.

Meis and Gueira argued over what movie to watch before settling on The Princess Bride. Lio crossed his arms over his chest. He’d probably qualify for financial assistance for being low income. But would that be enough? He needed to do some math.

Lio pulled out his phone. He’d looked at Promepolis University, but unless he got every scholarship under the sun, it just wasn’t feasible. As much as he wanted to go to school with Galo, that seemed a near impossible dream.

Maybe if he sent Galo just the right cat video, Lio could figure out how to give Galo the news. While the movie played, Lio scrolled through instagram cats until Lani’s latest post made him stop dead. He felt as if he’d been punched directly in the gut. He couldn’t breath.

It was a picture of Lani and Lio’s high school selves, complete with school uniform. Lio couldn’t remember the exact circumstances of this picture, but they were smiling. The caption read “Lio is missing! Help me find…” 

Lio couldn’t bring himself to click on the More button to read the rest.

“You okay?” Gueira asked.

Lio turned off the screen on his phone. “Yeah.”

—————————

The glass and metal door slid silently shut behind Lio as he stepped into the lobby of the Foresight Foundation offices. A long stretch of white floor with inlaid geometric blue and gold squares led up to a monolithic desk. Lio wore his nicest shirt but he still felt under-dressed inside the Foresight Foundation head office. 

“I’m here for the interview. Lio Fotia.” Lio spoke evenly to the receptionist. He would not let this place intimidate him.

“Ah yes. You’ll find the elevators on your left. Go up to the 15th floor, then go straight down the hall.”

“Oh thanks.” Lio committed all of that into his memory.

“We’ll just need you to sign in.” The receptionist gestured to a computer screen on her right. “And I’ll get you a visitors badge.”

Using the touch screen, Lio input his name and reason for visiting. The receptionist passed him a white badge on a lanyard.

“Thank you.”

“Good luck.”

Lio nodded and continued on to the elevators. He pressed his visitors badge to the panel that read ‘BADGE HERE’. The 15th floor button lit up.

Galo had sent Lio the link to this job listing. Lio had almost dismissed it until he saw how much it paid. On a whim, he’d submitted his resume and now he found himself here, in the den of an enemy. The company that was trying to put a smoothie shop into his neighborhood.

The elevator dinged and Lio stepped inside. It rose up evenly and the door opened to a wide hallway on the 15th floor of the Foresight building. Following the receptionist’s instructions, Lio went straight down the hall to a set of double doors with a white poster board sign on a stand which read “Interviews”.

Two other applicants had already beaten Lio to the interview. He smiled at both of them and took a seat at the far end of the table. While he listened to their conversation about some sports team, more people trickled in for the interview. Lio knew he should make small talk with the other applicants, but anxiety held his tongue.

This was a mistake, he shouldn’t have come here. They would take one quick look at his shabby, non-name brand clothes, his scuffed up shoes, and laugh him right out of the building.

One by one, a young woman called people out for interviews. Lio rose to his feet when his name was called and followed the woman to another office just down the hall from the first office. Three people sat behind a large, square desk in front of a window with an impressive view of downtown Promepolis.

“Take a seat.” The man in the middle said.

Lio sat in the only chair available to him, which was in the center of the room. He sat up straight. He would not let these people intimidate him. “Thank you.”

“Why do you want to work for the Foresight Foundation, Mr. Fotia?”

—————————

April popped her bubblegum as Lio walked into the laundromat. “Didn’t think you’d actually stop by to say goodbye.”

“Yeah.” Lio answered.

April looked him over. “Where are your shadows?”

“Meis and Gueira? Working.”

“You’re not here to do laundry, I take it.” April commented boredly. 

“It’s your last day, isn’t it?” Lio asked.

“Yup.” She blew a bubble with her gum.

Lio clenched and unclenched his fists. He was about to do something unbelievably stupid. “Can I borrow your phone?”

April narrowed her eyes, then shrugged. “You know what? I don’t care. Knock yourself out.” She gestured to the yellowing plastic phone behind counter.

Tapping his fingers against his leg, Lio hesitated before he picked up the phone. April watched him with interest. He took a deep breath to steal himself, picked the phone off the cradle and started to dial. 

He’d long had this number committed to memory, but also kept it programmed into his phone. In case he died, he wanted this person to know. His hand only shook a little as he dialed on the old-fashioned phone.

The phone rang. Lio’s breathing sounded too loud in his own ears. The phone rang. He wanted to slam the receiver down. The phone rang. The was such a stupid idea and he should be doing anything but this.

“Hello?” a breathless woman’s voice said on the other end of the line.

Unexpected tears filled Lio’s vision. He put a hand to his mouth, unable to speak. He hadn’t heard his mother’s voice in five years.

“…Lio? Is that you?” Uncertainty painted the woman’s voice.

“Mom?”

“Oh my god. Lio.” She inhaled sharply. “Where are you?”

Lio shook his head.

“Nobody’s mad at you, sweetheart. Please, just tell me where you are.” She pleaded with him, hundreds of miles away. “Please. Lio.”

He wanted to tell her that he was okay. He was okay, but he was never going back to Detroit. “Mom.”

Far away, on the other end of the line, his mother let out a shaky breath. “Lio…”

“I’m sorry.”

“Lio… Please…” A soft, desperate whisper.

Lio’s voice broke. “I’m sorry.”

He slammed the receiver down, managing to hold it together just long enough not to sob over the phone. His legs turned weak and Lio slid to the floor.

“Parents, huh?” April asked. “Wait here.”

April watched while Lio wiped at his eyes with his sleeves, attempting to regain his composure. After heaving a long sigh, she walked over to the front door, flipped the open sign over to closed and locked the front door. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” Lio hiccuped.

She disappeared and returned with an entire roll of single ply toilet paper. “Here.”

Lio yanked off some of the toilet paper and wiped his eyes, immediately regretting the action when the paper did little more than rough up his skin. “This toilet paper is terrible.”

“Yup.” She sat cross-legged on the floor next to him. “Listen, I know this isn’t my business. But whatever you did, your parents will forgive you if they’re worth anything.”

Miserable, Lio stared at the toilet paper in his hands.

“And if they don’t, you’re better off without them.”

Some things didn’t deserve to be forgiven.

Both of them jumped when the phone started to ring from the counter.

“Shit.” April laughed nervously. “Should I answer that?”

Lio shook his head.

They sat in silence while the phone rang. Lio blew his nose on the regrettably thin toilet paper. When the phone started to ring again, April rose to her feet and unplugged it from the wall. 

“Are you going to get in trouble for this?” Lio asked.

“Probably. But what are they going to do, fire me?”

For some reason, Lio started to laugh. April joined in. Before he knew it, they were laughing at absolutely nothing. 

Lio wiped his eyes, melancholy setting in as soon as the laughter ended. He’d always though everyone would be happier without him. But now he wonder if that wasn’t true and he didn’t know what to do.

April patted Lio on the shoulder. “Fuck it. I’m closing up for the night. You need me to call redhead to walk you home?”

Lio shook his head. “Just give me a few minutes. I’ll be okay.”

“That’s right. You will.”

On his way out the door, April handed him a coupon for Buy One, Get One Free pint of ice cream. “Think you can use this more than me.”

Lio swung by the grocery store on his way home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That Foresight Foundation sure seems suspicious…
> 
> Edit: Since the chapter with Lio's back story was *gulp* a year ago, for a quick refresher, Lio left his house and ran away to Promepolis. That's why he hasn't talked to his mom in five years.
> 
> Next time: Did Meis make lentil soup? Will Lio figure out how to use his phone?


End file.
